FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE 
WHITE  NORTH 


DONALD  B.MAcMlLf.AN,  RR  as. 


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in  2007  witii  funding  from 

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FOUR    YEARS    IN   THE 
WHITE    NORTH 


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FOUR  YEARS 

IN  THE 

WHITE  NORTH 


BY 

DONALD   B.  MACMILLAN 

D.Sc,  F.R.G.S. 


ILLUSTRATED    FROM    PHOTOGRAPHS 
BY    THE     AUTHOR 


HARPER  &.  BROTHERS  PUBLISHERS 

NEW    YORK    AND    LONDON 


Form  Yba»s  m  thk  Whttk  North 


Copyright,  1918,  by  Harper  &  Brothers 

Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 

Published  October,  1918 

K-a 


TO    THE     MEMORY    OF 
ONE    OF    THE    WHITEST.    ONE    OF    THE    BEST; 
TO    HIM    WHO    WOULD     HAVE    GONE- 
GEORGE      BORUP 


CONTENTS 

CHAP.  PAQE 

Introduction xiii 

I.  Northward  Ho! 1 

II.  Etah 23 

III.  Our  First  Winter 37 

IV.  In  Search  of  Crocker  Land 46 

V.  The  Return  erom  the  Polar  Sea 84 

VI.  Work  at  Borup  Lodge 102 

VII.  To  Upernavik  and  Back 120 

VIII.  To  Rensselaer  Harbor 143 

IX.  Waiting  for  the  Ship 164 

X.  The  Winter  of  1915-16 195 

XL       To  King  Christian  Island 223 

Xn.     Back  Across  Ellesmere  Land 246 

XIII.  Alone  at  Borup  Lodge 261 

XIV.  Cape  Sabine  to  Clarence  Head 281 

XV.  The  Arrival  of  the  "Neptune" 306 

XVI.  Conclusion 320 

Appendix  I 323 

Appendix  II 333 

Appendix  III     .     .     .  ' 371 

Appendix  IV 388 

Appendix  V 397 

Appendix  VI 403 

Appendix  VII 412 

Index 415 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

King  op  the  North Frontispiece 

S.  S.  "Diana"  Loading  at  Brooklyn  Navt-tard    ....  Facing  p.  12 

The  "Erik"  Landing  Supplies  at  Provision  Point,  Etah.  "  16 

Iceberg  in  Melville  Bat **  18 

Wherever  Mother  Goes,  Baby  Goes,  Snuggled  in  the  Hood 

Against  the  Warm  Back "  20 

A  Good  Wife  is  a  Good  Chewer.    Boot  Soles  are  a  Good 

Test  of  Teeth "  20 

Brother  John's  Glacier  and  Alida  Lake **  24 

Christmas  Dinner,   1914.    Left  to  Right:    Hunt,  Green, 

Ekblaw,  Tanquary,  Allen,  Mene  (Eskimo),  Small     .  "  32 

Shoo-e-ging-wa  and  Her  Pet "  86 

The  Bright,  Snappy  Face  of  an  Eskimo  Child     ....  '*  40 

Snow  is  an  Excellent  Non-conductor       **  44 

No  Plates  or  Forks  in  the  North.    The  Meat  is  Measured 

IN  THE  Mouth  and  Cut  at  the  Lips **  48 

Narwhal.    The  Raw  Skin  is  Prized  as  a  Delicacy]    ...  "  48 

Up  the  Face  of  the  Beitstadt  Glacier "  52 

When  is  He  Coming  with  the  Grub? "  54 

Herd  of  Musk-oxen "  62 

Four  of  Our  Faithful  Natives  Who  Deserve  the  Credit 

for  Our  Ten  Thousand  Miles  of  Sledge- work    ...  "  64 

Constructing  a  Snow  Hocsb *'  68 

Our  Camp  at  Cape  Isabella,  May,  1917 '*  68 

Held  Up  by  Pressure  Only "76 

Stretch  of  Rough  Ice  on  Polar  Sea "  78 

Last  Camp  on  Polar  Sea "  78 

Fourth  Camp  on  Polab  Sea **  84 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Peabt  Record  Found  with  Flag  on  Summit  of  Cape  Thomas 
Hubbard 

Peary  Cairn  on  Summit  of  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard    ,     .     . 

Portion  of  American  Flag  Left  by  Peary  at  Cape  Thomas 
Hubbard  and  Found  by  Author  in  May,  1914     .    .    . 

Eskimo  Drawings  of  Different  Animals 

Burgomaster  or  Glaucous  Gull  (Larus  Hyperboreus)  . 

Netting  Dovekies  at  the  Rate  of  One  a  Minute    .    .    . 

The  Niagara  of  North  Greenland 

A  Lonely  Grave  in  the  Far  North 

Port  Foulke.    Winter  Quarters  of  Hayes  Expedition    . 

Eight  Exposures  at  Twenty-minute  Intervals  of  Mid- 
night Sun  in  Smith  Sound 

A  Fine  Day,  Good  Going,  and  a  Good  Team 

Kane  Record  Found  on  North  Greenland  Shore     .     .    . 

Arrow  Carved  on  the  Summit  of  Fern  Rock  at  Rensselaer 
Harbor  by  Kane  Expedition  to  Indicate  Location  of 
Glass  Jar  Concealed  in  a  Crevice 

Not  a  Dog  Dared  to  Go  Near 

With  the  Feel  of  the  Warm  Sun  on  His  Body  He  Gurgles 
WITH  Delight 

The  End  of  the  Day 

Flight  of  Dovekies 

Head  of  Two-thousand-pound  Walrus 

Eskimo  Kayak.  Wonderfully  Adapted  for  the  Purpose 
OF  Harpooning  Walrus,  Narwhal,  and  Seal  .... 

When  the  Ah-wa-ta,'the  Inflated  Skin  of  a  Little  Ringed 
Seal,  Moves  Through  the  Water  it  is  an  Indication 

THAT  THE  HaRPOON  HaS  BeEN  DrTV'EN  HoMI  .  It  IS  AT- 
TACHED TO  THE  Harpoon  Line  and  Supports  and  also 
Denotes  the  Location  of  the  Animal 

Al-ning-wa,  the  Wife  of  Arbujo 

Nest  of  Eider  Duck.  Four  Thousand  Delicious  Fresh 
Eggs  of  the  Eider  Duck 

The  Rare  Eggs  of  the  Knot  (Tringa  Canutus)    .... 

The  Knot  Upon  Nest 

An  Ice-cold  Bath  Has  No  Terrors  Whatever  for  Nannook 

He  Very  Kindly  Ascended  the  Berg  to  be  Photographed  . 


Facing  p-   86 
86 

86 
92 
104 
108 
112 
120 
120 

144 

148 
158 

158 
160 

166 
166 
168 
198 

230 


230 

242 

252 
264 
264 

270 
270 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Oxm  Fourth  and  Last  Christmas.     Only  Two  of  Original 
Personnel  Remaining.     Left  to  Right:  Comer,  Hovey, 

Small,  MacMillan Facing  p.  278 

We  Can  Never  Forget  the  Cloud  Effects  of  the  Midnight 

Sun  Over  Cape  Sabine "  282 

Sunset  Over  Cape  Sabine "  286 

Glacier  a  Few  Miles  North  of  Cape  York "  286 

The  Remains  of  the  Greely  Starvation  Hut  at  Camp 

Sabine "  294 

Peary's  Old  Hut  at  Cape  Sabine *'  294 

Sledging  on  the  Ice-foot  in  the  Late  Spring       ....  '*  300 
There  are  Many  Dangerous  Corners  on  a  Narrow  Ice- 
foot which  Demand  Most  Careful  Work  to  Prevent 

A  Drop  into  the  Sea "  300 

Relief-ship  "Neptune"  in  Baffin  Bay "  804 

Reuef-ship  "Neptune"  at  Anchor  in  Etah  Habbob      .    .  **  304 

It  was  Hard  to  Bid  Them  Good-by "  308 

A  Real  Dog       "  308 

E-TooK-A-sHoo  Listening  at  the  Breathing-hole  of  a  Seal  '*  312 

Tracks  of  the  Polar  Bear **  312 

The  Old  Whaler's  Lookout  at  Disco "  318 

The  End  of  the  Famous  "Fox" "  818 

Arctic  Poppy  (Papaver  Radicatum)  and  Abnica  (Arnica  " 

Alpena) "  400 


MAPS 

Etah  and  Vicinity Page      i5 

CiRcuMPOLAR  Relief  Map  to  Show  Sledge  Track  and 

Field    of    Work    of    Crocker    Land    Expedition. 

(Courtesy  of  Popular  Science  Monthly) Facing  p.  28 

Field  of  Work  of  Cbockeb  Land  Expedition "        80 


INTRODUCTION 


rilHE  Pole  had  been  discovered.  My  dreams  and 
-■■  hopes  of  years  had  culminated  in  one  short  year's 
work  under  Peary.  When  the  S.  S.  Roosevelt,  homeward 
bound,  stuck  her  short  stub  nose  into  the  ice-fields  of 
Robeson  Channel  and  lay  there  panting,  unable  to  pro- 
ceed, I  secretly  hoped  that  Torngak,  the  evil  spirit 
of  the  North,  would  keep  her  there.  Only  one  short 
year  of  Arctic  work!  But  that,  under  the  tutelage  of 
a  great  master,  had  left  me  anxious  to  continue.  What 
a  grip  the  great  white  ice-fields  get  on  a  man!  And 
what  a  fascination  may  exist  in  the  most  desolate  places! 

When,  a  few  weeks  later.  North  Greenland  lay  but 
as  a  ribbon  on  the  sky-line,  I  had  made  up  my  mind — 
I  was  going  back.  But  where.'*  Far  off  in  the  north- 
west, beyond  the  heights  of  Axel  Heiberg  and  Grant 
Lands,  lay  the  largest  unexplored  white  spot  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  globe,  one-half  a  million  square  miles  in 
area.  And  at  the  very  edge  of  this,  with  its  white  head 
beckoning  to  man,  stood  Crocker  Land,  reported  and 
named  by  Peary  in  1906  after  one  of  his  supporters, 
with  the  words:  "I  seem  to  see  more  distinctly  the 
snow-clad  summits  of  a  distant  land  in  the  northwest 
above  the  ice  horizon.**  Here  was  a  goal  worthy  of 
ambition! 

My  decision  to  return  into  the  frozen  North  was  not 


INTRODUCTION 

actuated  by  this  single  report.  Richardson,  McClure, 
Marcus  Baker,  Capt.  John  Keenan,  and  Dr.  R.  A.  Harris 
have  all  given  reasons  for  the  existence  of  such  a  land. 
This  belief  has  persisted  for  nearly  ninety  years.  The 
accumulated  evidence  of  years  substantiated  Peary *s 
belief. 

My  friends  realized  that  this  was  the  last  great  geo- 
graphical problem  of  the  North,  and  they  generously 
offered  to  contribute  the  necessary  funds  for  the  carry- 
ing out  of  my  plans  in  1911.  In  the  spring  of  that 
year  I  received  a  letter  from  George  Borup,  assistant 
curator  of  geology  in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History,  stating  that  if  I  would  consent  to  postpone 
my  departure  for  one  year,  we,  as  joint  leaders,  would 
receive  the  help  and  patronage  of  that  institution. 

Here  were  two  inducements — one  the  honor  of  work- 
ing under  the  auspices  of  the  American  Museum,  and 
the  other  the  help  and  companionship  of  George  Borup, 
my  roommate  on  the  S.  S.  Roosevelt. 

I  consider  myself  fortunate  in  having  known  and 
worked  with  Borup.  Such  men  are  not  common. 
When  an  assistant  to  Peary  in  1908,  he  was  only  twenty- 
three  years  old,  yet  he  was  one  of  the  strongest  and  grit- 
tiest in  the  party.  As  an  illustration  of  the  latter 
quality,  I  may  cite  an  incident  in  the  day's  work  in  the 
early  spring  of  1909. 

On  that  memorable  date  Borup  was  sent  back  to  land 
for  oil.  Tides,  currents,  and  winds  so  acted  upon  the 
ice  as  to  cut  off  all  communication  with  the  advance 
party.  His  Eskimos,  fearing  for  their  lives,  did  not 
dare  to  proceed  northward  with  the  much-needed  fuel. 
During  this  interval  George  wrote  me  a  note  which  I 
found  weeks  later  in  the  crack  of  an  old  snow  igloo 


INTRODUCTION 

under  the  cliffs  of  Cape  Columbia.     A  part  of  it  read 
as  follows: 

''Everything  has  gone  to  hell.  My  Eskimos  are  talking  of  quitting 
and  of  hiking  for  the  ship.  7/  they  do,  I  shall  go  it  alone  just  as  soon 
as  I  can  get  across  the  lead." 

With  a  heavy  sledge  and  alone,  he  was  going  out  over 
the  drift  ice  in  search  of  his  commander! 

Borup  prepared  at  Groton  School,  and  graduated 
from  Yale  in  1907;  then  he  became  an  apprentice  in 
the  Pennsylvania  Railroad  machine-shops  at  Altoona, 
Pennsylvania.  Attendance  at  a  lecture  by  Peary  in 
1906  fired  his  ambition  to  see  the  Arctic  regions. 

In  the  spring  of  1912  I  proceeded  to  New  York  to 
assume  charge  of  the  outfitting  of  the  expedition,  Borup 
at  this  time  being  engaged  in  post-graduate  work  at 
Yale  University.  Our  voluntary  subscription  of  ten 
thousand  dollars,  through  our  friends,  to  the  American 
Museum,  was  more  than  doubled,  contributions  being 
received  from  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  individuals 
and  twelve  colleges,  schools,  and  societies. 

All  was  preceeding  well  when,  in  April,  the  sad  news 
of  Borup*s  death  was  received.  At  a  meeting  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Museum,  held  in  May,  1912,  it  was  resolved  to  post- 
pone the  expedition  for  one  year,  and  that  it  be  made 
a  memorial  of  George  Borup. 

With  the  reorganization  which  followed,  our  expedition 
of  three  men,  with  one  object  in  view,  expanded  rapidly 
into  a  personnel  of  seven  men  and  several  objects  to 
be  attained: 

1.  To  reach,  map  the  coast-line,  and  explore  Crocker 
Land,  the  mountainous  tops  of  which  were  seen 


INTRODUCTION 

across  the  Polar  Sea  by  Rear-Admiral  Peary  in 
1906. 

2.  To  search  for  other  lands  in  the  unexplored  region 

west  and  southwest  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land,  and 
north  of  Parry  Islands. 

3.  To  penetrate  into  the  interior  of  Greenland  at  its 

widest  part,  between  the  77th  and  78th  parallels 
of  north  latitude,  studying  meteorological  and 
glaciological  conditions  on  the  summit  of  the  great 
ice-cap. 

4.  To  study  the  geology,  geography,  glaciology,  meteor- 

ology, terrestrial  magnetism,  electrical  phenomena, 
seismology,  zoology  (both  vertebrate  and  inverte- 
brate), botany,  oceanography,  ethnology,  and  arche- 
ology throughout  the  extensive  region  which  is  to 
be  traversed,  all  of  it  lying  above  the  77th  parallel. 
The  great  unexplored  sector  of  the  Polar  Sea  may  be 
reached  by  a  selection  of  one  of  the  following  routes: 
(1)  Bering   Strait;     (2)    Lancaster   Sound;     (3)   Jones 
Sound;   (4)  Smith  Sound  and  Flagler  Bay. 

The  first  offered  many  inducements,  the  chief  of  which 
was  the  proximity  of  the  edge  of  the  unknown  sector 
to  the  western  shores  of  Prince  Patrick  Island;  an 
economy  of  many  weary  miles  of  sledge-work  on  the 
Polar  Sea.  Ice  conditions,  however,  along  the  northern 
shores  of  Alaska  and  in  the  Beaufort  Sea  all  militate 
against  the  safe  arrival  of  a  ship  at  headquarters,  and 
most  certainly  against  her  return  in  the  same  season, 
as  was  planned. 

Lancaster  and  Jones  Sounds  may  be  perfectly  practi- 
cable one  year  and  utterly  impossible  the  next;  there- 
fore both  were  eliminated  in  favor  of  the  Smith  Sound 
route. 


INTRODUCTION 

With  a  good  stanch  ship,  Etah,  North  Greenland,  and 
Cape  Sabine  on  the  opposite  shore  are  attainable  every 
year.  Leading  west  into  the  shores  of  Ellesmere  Land 
are  Buchanan  and  Flagler  Bays.  Here  I  planned  to 
build  our  winter  quarters,  a  distance  of  375  statute 
miles  from  our  objective  point.  The  ship,  having 
landed  the  personnel,  supplies,  and  equipment,  was  to 
return  south  with  the  intention  of  coming  back  at  the 
end  of  two  years,  or  three  years  at  the  latest. 

During  the  waning  light  of  the  fall  months,  advance 
depots  of  supplies  were  to  be  advanced  over  the  heights 
of  Ellesmere  Land  into  Bay  Fiord  and  Eureka  Sound, 
our  last  being  established  at  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard, 
the  most  northern  end  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land.  Upon 
the  return  of  the  sun  in  February,  our  advance  toward 
Crocker  Land  was  to  begin  with  the  help  of  some  fifteen 
Eskimos  and  their  150  dogs,  the  teams  traveling  light 
from  food-station  to  food-station,  thereby  reserving 
their  strength  for  the  arduous  work  of  the  Polar  Sea. 

If  Crocker  Land  did  exist,  then  the  work  of  explora- 
tion and  survey  would  be  continued  in  the  spring  of 
1915  and  possibly  1916,  depending  upon  the  size  and 
character  of  the  newly  discovered  land.  Because  of 
approaching  warm  weather  and  the  consequent  disin- 
tegration of  the  sea  ice,  a  return  to  headquarters  in 
Flagler  Bay  by  June  1st  would  be  imperative.  Here, 
for  the  remainder  of  the  year,  work  was  to  be  carried 
on  in  meteorology,  botany,  ethnology,  geology,  zoology, 
seismology,  ornithology,  and  terrestrial  magnetism. 

If  no  word  was  received  from  us  at  the  end  of  two 
years,  a  relief-ship  was  to  be  sent  in  search  of  the  party. 
With  the  help  of  fresh  meat,  which  I  knew  to  be  abun- 
dant in  the  vicinity  of  our  winter  quarters,  our  pro- 


INTRODUCTION 

visions  were  adequate  for  a  sojourn  of  at  least  three 
years. 

The  American  Geographical  Society  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois  came  to  the  help  of  the  American 
Museum  in  financing  this  undertaking,  and  the  expedi- 
tion sailed  under  the  auspices  of  these  three  institutions. 

D.  B.  M. 

Boston,  Massachusetts,  May,  1918. 


FOUR    YEARS    IN    THE 
WHITE    NORTH 


^'He  heard  of  a  new  land  far  to  the  north,  and  rest  was 
not  his  until  he  saw  it." — Panikpa,  narrating  the  deeds 
of  his  grandfather. 


FOUR   YEARS    IN   THE 
WHITE    NORTH 


NORTHWARD   HO! 

nnHE  hot  2d  of  July,  1913,  is  one  of  the  mfle-stones 
■■■  which  will  always  loom  large  in  the  perspective  of 
our  past.  We  were  standing  on  the  line,  faces  toward 
the  north,  awaiting  the  shot  that  should  start  us  out 
on  two  long  years  of  Arctic  work,  two  years  of  uncer- 
tainty, of  desired  objects  to  be  attained,  of  blasted  hopes, 
of  adventure,  of  wonderful  and  strange  sights,  of  extreme 
happiness  for  some,  of  abject  misery  for  others. 

Huddled,  as  if  for  protection,  among  the  giant  steel-gray 
ships  of  our  navy  at  the  Brooklyn  Navy-yard  lay  the 
old  Diana,  of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland.  Her  high  bow, 
her  peculiar  rig,  her  lines,  her  bridge,  the  crow's-nest 
it  the  topmast-head,  her  greenheart  sheathing,  all  told 
of  her  battles  in  the  far  North  and  of  her  object  here — 
the  transportation  of  the  Crocker  Land  Expedition  to 
the  head  of  Flagler  Bay,  Ellesmere  Land,  660  miles 
from  the  North  Pole. 

With  the  thud  of  the  last  box  on  the  deck,  the  splash 
of  ropes  in  the  water,  and  the  sound  of  the  gong  in  the 


2        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

engine-room,  the  weary,  anxious  months  of  preparation 
now  shaped  themselves  into  the  foundation  of  the 
structure  which  we  were  to  build.  Our  long  voyage  to 
the  top  of  the  earth  had  begun. 

Important  and  decisive  battles  in  the  North  have  been 
won  weeks  and  even  years  before  they  were  fought.  A 
man  returns  from  the  Polar  Sea  and  says,  "  I  have  failed." 
The  average  mind  visualizes  open  water,  rough  ice, 
pressure  ridges,  unsurmountable  barriers,  but  the  leader 
knows  that  he  f aUed  before  he  ever  left  home,  because  of 
carelessness  and  poor  judgment  in  the  selection  of  his 
food,  his  men,  his  equipment;  a  failure  to  discriminate 
between  the  important  and  the  unimportant  objects  to 
be  attained;  a  total  ignorance  of  the  varying  phases 
of  the  work;  and  a  lack  of  that  most  important  and 
very  valuable  characteristic  of  an  Arctic  man — re- 
sourcefulness in  grappling  with  the  ever-arising  unknown 
factors  of  the  problem. 

Too  much  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  the  selection  of 
food,  equipment,  and  men;  the  selection  must  be  based 
ui)on  one's  own  experience  and  upon  the  experience  of 
all  those  who  have  preceded  him  in  the  field.  The  real 
work  of  an  expedition  is  borne  by  the  leader  for  months 
prior  to  its  departure,  and  then  comes  a  relaxation,  a 
school-boy's  Saturday  feeling — a  long,  long  holiday. 
When  going  far  beyond  the  confines  of  civilization, 
nothing  must  be  forgotten  which  would  tend  to  ex- 
pedite and  facilitate  the  work  planned;  not  a  single 
item  of  the  many  thousands  which  help  to  spell  success, 
from  pins,  and  bands  for  birds  to  sheet  lead  for  broken 
boats  and  crutches  for  broken  limbs!  One  expedition 
sailed  away  some  years  ago  without  brooms.  For  two 
years  the  house  was  swept  with  birds'  wings! 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  S 

Into  the  hold  of  the  Diana  had  gon6  but  a  fraction 
of  the  equipment,  yet  it  included:  10,000  pounds  of 
biscuit;  5,000  of  flour;  1,500  of  beans;  1,400  of  de- 
hydrated vegetables;  1,000  each  of  rolled  oats,  corned 
beef,  salt  pork,  and  tobacco;  600  of  evaporated  apples; 
500  each  of  yellow  meal  and  prunes;  350  of  coffee;  300 
each  of  tea  and  codfish;  10,000  gallons  of  kerosene  oil, 
and  1,000  each  of  gasolene  and  alcohol;  2,400  tins  of 
condensed  milk;  1,500  of  hash,  1,000  of  baked  beans, 
800  of  sweet  corn;  700  of  tomatoes;  and  500  of  salmon. 

As  the  Diana  passed  under  the  stern  of  a  U.  S.  N. 
receiving-ship,  Hancock^  the  band  assembled  on  the 
quarter-deck  and  struck  up,  "Hail,  the  Conquering 
Hero  Comes,"  followed  by  "Auld  Lang  Syne,"  "In 
the  Good  Old  Summer-time,"  and  "The  Girl  I  Left 
Behind  Me."  Commander  Ryan  was  evidently  well 
aware  of  the  fact  that  one  of  my  men  had  been  married 
only  one  week,  two  others  were  engaged,  and  one  wanted 
to  be.  The  strains  of  "In  the  Good  Old  Summer-time" 
failed  utterly  to  call  forth  the  least  feeling  of  regret 
that  we  were  leaving  the  dust,  dirt,  and  prostrating 
heat  of  city  life  for  the  pure,  clear  air  and  clean  snows 
of  the  far  North. 

Our  state-rooms  looked  like  the  interior  of  a  huge  grab- 
bag — boxes,  bundles,  books,  and  packages  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  out  of  which  oozed  stuffed  dates  and  chocolate 
frosted  cake.  My  bed  was  filled  with  salted  j)eanuts, 
my  pillow  was  covered  with — I  never  knew  what  it  was ! 

"  Crocker  Land,"  under  a  thick  layer  of  white  frosting, 
rested  upon  the  table  in  the  main  saloon.  Proudly 
scaling  its  heights  with  banners  flying  was  an  "intrepid 
band  of  Arctic  explorers,"  the  conception  of  Artist 
Operti,  an  Arctic   enthusiast.     And    amid   the    chaos 


4         FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

of  it  all  came  a  cheery  peep  from  the  sunlit  skylight — a 
golden  canary  leaving  his  pleasant  New  York  home  for 
bleak  and  barren  Labrador,  a  gift  to  the  wife  of  a  mis- 
sionary at  Hopedale. 

The  personnel  is  the  heart  of  an  expedition,  which 
means  its  health  and  energy  and  life.  One  bit  of  dis- 
loyalty, one  leaky  valve,  may  impair  the  whole  system. 
Conditions  under  which  one  lives  in  the  far  North  are 
very  abnormal — far  away  from  the  touch  of  the  human- 
izing elements  of  civilization;  from  the  political  and 
international  laws  which  govern  man  in  his  relations 
with  his  fellow-men;  from  the  comforts  of  home;  from 
the  loving  kindness  of  relatives  and  friends;  from  the 
companionship  which  man  craves;  from  the  hum  and 
activity  of  a  busy  world;  from  the  news  and  progress  of 
the  day.  Away  from  the  ever-recurring  sunlight  days 
of  the  homeland,  he  goes  north  to  plunge  into  the 
shadows  and  darkness  of  the  long,  cold  winter;  and  then 
the  dark  nights  which  man  should  have  for  sleep  give 
way  before  the  continual  brightness  of  a  revolving  sun. 

The  men  had  been  carefully  selected.  All  were  young, 
energetic,  and  enthusiastic.     The  roster  read: 

W.  Elmer  Ekblaw,  A.B.,  A.M.,  University  of  Illinois. 
Geologist  and  botanist.  Born  March  10,  1882,  Ran- 
toul,  Illinois.    Instructor,  University  of  Illinois,  1910-13. 

Maurice  Cole  Tanquary,  A.B.,  A.M.,  Ph.D.,  Uni- 
versity of  Illinois.  Zoologist.  Born  November  26, 
1881,  Lawrenceville,  Illinois.  Assistant  in  entomology. 
University  of  Illinois,  1907-12.  Instructor  in  entomol- 
ogy, Kansas  State  Agricultural  College,  1912-15. 

Harrison  J.  Hunt,  A.B.,  1902,  M.D.,  1905,  Bowdoin. 
Born,  Brewer,  Maine,  1879.  Captain  Varsity  track  and 
football  teams. 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  5 

Ensign  FitzHugh  Green,  U.S.N.  Physicist.  Born 
St.  Joseph,  Missouri,  1889.  Graduated  from  Naval 
Academy,  Annapolis,  1909.  Georgetown  University, 
A.M.,  1913. 

Jerome  Lee  Allen.  Electrician  and  Wireless  Operator. 
Born  April  17,  1891,  Morgan  County,  Georgia.  De- 
tailed to  the  Crocker  Land  Expedition  by  the  U.  S. 
government.  Received  training  at  navy  wireless  school 
in  New  York  City.  Detailed  to  U.S.S.  Patuxent,  U.S.S. 
New  Hampshire,  Norfolk,  Virginia,  Beaufort,  North 
Carolina.  Special  work  at  Bureau  of  Standards,  Wash- 
ington, and  at  Naval  Radio  Laboratory. 

Jonathan  Cook  Small.  Mechanic  and  cook.  Born 
Provincetown,  1876.  U.  S.  Life-saving  Station,  1893- 
1902.  Mechanic  in  Boston,  1902-12.  Labrador  sum- 
mer trip,  1912. 

Beautiful  clear  weather  accompanied  us  in  our  journey 
through  the  Sound  and  around  Cape  Cod  to  Boston, 
where  we  loaded  additional  supplies  and  14,000  pounds 
of  pemmican.  Friends  and  relatives  steamed  down  the 
harbor  with  us  on  the  afternoon  of  the  5th,  and  at  day- 
light of  the  6th  we  headed  eastward  toward  the  shores 
of  Nova  Scotia. 

The  little  town  of  Sydney,  Cape  Breton,  has  witnessed 
the  departure  and  return  of  many  an  Arctic  exp>edition. 
At  this  little  outpost  of  the  homeland  we  picked  up 
packages  rushed  through  by  mail  and  express,  letters 
from  home,  telegrams,  30,000  pounds  of  dog-biscuit 
imported  from  England,  and  13,000  feet  of  matched 
spruce  for  our  house  to  be  constructed  in  the  far  North. 
The  Diana  was  loaded  as  she  had  never  been  loaded 
before.  With  scuppers  awash,  we  steamed  over  to  North 
Sydney  late  in  the  evening  of  the  12th,  where  our  deck 


6        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

cargo  was  restored  and  the  ship  swung  for  compass 
deviation. 

At  five  in  the  afternoon  of  the  13th  three  long  blasts 
of  our  steam-whistle,  a  salute  to  the  quiet  little  town, 
announced  that  our  long  two-thousand-mile  trip  had 
begun.  From  Low  Point  came  the  signal,  "We  wish 
you  a  pleasant  voyage,"  to  which  we  replied,  "Thank 
you." 

There  were  no  long,  lingering  looks  at  the  land 
astern,  no  painful  thoughts  of  the  home-leaving;  this 
was  our  chosen  task,  and  we  were  eager  to  be  at  it. 
Ten  miles  out  of  Syndey,  the  Southern  CrosSy  Borch- 
grevink's  old  South  Pole  ship,  passed  us,  bound  in,  colors 
flying  and  Captain  Clark  in  the  rigging.  To  the  cheery 
clear  call  of  "Hello,  Mac!"  I  waved  my  cap.  The 
Southern  Cross  passed  out  of  our  life;  two  years  later 
she  went  down  with  all  on  board. 

WTien  I  rolled  into  my  hammock  beneath  the  boat 
davits  at  ten  o'clock,  I  threw  off,  with  my  clothes,  all 
worry  and  care,  all  ever-present  thoughts  of  preparation, 
and  all  responsibility.  We  were  but  passengers  on  a 
chartered  ship.  Our  fortunes  for  the  next  three  weeks 
were  in  the  hands  of  the  captain.  The  hoarse  bellow  of 
the  fog-whistle  throughout  the  night  did  not  rob  me  of  a 
wink  of  sleep.  With  the  Newfoundland  coast  close 
aboard,  we  steamed  north  on  the  14th,  with  steadily 
fallmg  barometer  and  increasing  northerly  winds.  At 
dark  the  Diana  was  laboring  heavily  in  a  head  s^a. 
Deep,  logy  as  a  log,  sticking  her  nose  into  every  curling 
sea,  and  shipping  tons  and  tons  of  water,  she  wallowed 
like  a  submarine.  As  I  awoke  in  the  night  and  listened 
to  the  roar  of  the  wind  and  rush  of  wave,  I  dropped  off 
to  sleep  with  the  comforting  thought  that  before  reaching 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  7 

the  turbulent  waters  of  Baffin  Bay  she  would  lighten 
herself  by  a  daily  consumption  of  nine  tons  of  coal. 

By  morning  the  gale  had  abated.  Clouds  and  mist 
rolled  away,  revealing  the  southern  shores  of  Labrador 
on  the  distant  sky-line.  And  there  lay  our  first  ice- 
berg! White  wanderers  of  the  North,  how  intensely  in- 
teresting they  are !  Often  one  and  even  two  hundred  can 
be  counted  from  the  crosstrees.  Not  formed  in  or  of  salt 
water,  as  many  believe,  but  of  the  compacted  snows  of 
centuries,  deposited  upon  the  summits  of  far  northern 
lands,  they  have  slowly  crept  through  winding  valleys 
ever  onward  toward  the  sea.  During  stormy  winter 
months  they  have  listened  to  the  roar  of  winds  and  the 
rustle  of  drifting  snow;  during Jthe  spring  months,  to  the 
sound  of  falling  waters,  to  rocks  leaping  and  bounding 
into  space,  to  the  cry  of  the  gull,  to  the  croak  of  the 
raven,  and  to  the  bark  of  the  fox.  At  last,  born  of  the 
parent  glacier,  they  float  majestically  oflF  to  their  death 
in  southern  seas,  beautiful  beyond  description  in  their 
glittering  whiteness,  marvelous  in  their  changing  colors. 

That  bright  afternoon  when  we  hugged  the  Labrador 
coast,  steaming  north  in  smooth  waters  toward  the 
Straits  of  Belle  Isle,  was  one  to  remember.  The  musical 
talent  of  the  expedition  burst  forth  in  song,  accompanied 
by  the  mandolin  and  guitar.  In  the  fine  voices  of  Allen 
and  Tanquary  were  promised  hours  of  entertainment 
during  the  long  winters  of  the  North.  One  by  one  the 
boys  left  the  quarter-deck  to  snuggle  down  in  their  ham- 
mocks and  wonder,  now  they  were  entering  the  outer 
gates  of  dreamland,  what  to-morrow  had  in  store  for 
them.  The  lights  in  the  fishermen's  huts  of  Red  Bay 
winked  and  blinked  us  to  sleep. 

A  little  after  midnight  came  a  nerve-racking  vibration 


8        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Jult 

from  stem  to  stern,  as  if  the  very  bottom  of  the  Diana 
was  being  ripped  completely  out  of  her.  She  listed  to 
port.  There  was  a  moment  of  deathlike  stillness;  then 
an  agonized  cry  from  the  depths  of  the  engine-room, 
"Is  that  the  bottom?"  A  babble  of  voices!  A  stam- 
pede from  for'ard  and  after  cabins!  And  then  the  dark- 
ness was  fairly  shot  to  pieces  with:  "I'll  be  damned!" 
"How  did  she  get  here.'*"  "Her  back  is  busted!" 
"Back  her!"  "If  you  do,  she'll  sink!"  "Get  your 
bags!'*     "She's  stuck,  sir."     "She'll  never  come  off,  sir.'* 

As  I  leaped  from  my  hammock,  Captain  Waite  passed 
me  in  negligee,  headed  for  the  bridge — which  he  never 
should  have  left,  endangered  as  we  were  by  a  heavy 
mist,  strong  tides,  and  numerous  icebergs.  He  clutched 
the  railing  and  stared  helplessly  into  space. 

I  waited  patiently  for  the  word  which  would  bring 
order  out  of  chaos,  some  command  which  would  quiet 
this  half-crazy  crew.  It  was  evidently  each  man  for 
himself  and  the  devil  take  the  hindmost.  Our  twenty- 
one-foot  dory  shot  from  the  lofty  skids  into  the  sea, 
and  came  to  the  surface  filled  to  the  gunwales. 

Bom  on  Cape  Cod,  one  of  the  graveyards  of  the 
North  Atlantic,  and  thoroughly  acquainted  with  wreck- 
ing methods,  I  knew  instinctively  that  to  save  the  ship 
two  things  must  be  done  and  done  at  once:  run  out  a 
kedge  anchor  well  off  the  starboard  quarter  to  prevent 
the  ship  from  going  broadside  on  to  the  beach,  and 
then  lighten  the  cargo.  Learning  that  we  had  grounded 
on  the  height  of  the  flood  tide,  I  realized  at  once  the 
seriousness  of  our  situation.  Although  I  had  absolutely 
no  control  over  the  ship  and  her  crew,  I  felt  that  the 
expedition  equipment,  supplies,  and  coal  for  which  we 
were  paying  were  at  least  subject  to  my  command. 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  9 

Our  deck-load  of  coal,  about  fifty  tons,  must  go,  and 
over  it  went  to  the  bottom.  We  had  entered  a  race 
against  a  rising  wind  and  sea  which  would  tear  the  bot- 
tom out  of  the  Diana  in  a  few  hours.  She  must  be  re- 
lieved of  the  weight  which,  on  the  ebb  tide,  might  mean 
a  broken  back.  As  Doctor  Hunt  and  I  started  for  the 
shore  just  at  break  of  day  with  the  first  load  of  dog-bis- 
cuit, I  realized  how  pitifully  feeble  were  our  efforts,  and 
how  infinitesimally  small  the  weight  we  had  removed 
in  comparison  with  the  tons  and  tons  which  must  be 
landed  on  the  beach.  More  boats  and  more  men  were 
the  great  needs.  "Rush"  was  the  watchword.  The 
slightest  increase  in  swell  and  all  was  lost. 

The  services  of  Frederick  Paterson  and  Judge  Carroll 
Sprigg,  who  were  going  north  with  us  for  the  summer, 
and  that  of  their  power-boat  were  invaluable.  They 
volunteered  to  work  hard  and  long — and  to  the  limit. 
My  nephew.  Dr.  Neil  A.  Fogg,  I  despatched  to  Red 
Bay  with  telegrams  to  the  American  Museum,  to  Job 
Brothers,  of  St.  John's,  owners  of  the  ship,  and  to 
Battle  Harbor.  I  was  hoping  to  get  in  touch  with  one 
of  the  government  steamers  which  ply  up  and  down  the 
coast  during  the  summer  months  with  mail  and  pas- 
sengers. 

Three  fishing-schooners  appeared  in  the  distance, 
bound  north.  Realizing  the  importance  of  these  vessels 
as  lighters,  we  signaled  for  help  and  soon  had  them 
alongside,  our  hatches  off,  and  boxes  going  over  the 
rail  in  a  steady  stream.  With  one  of  my  m«n  on  each 
of  the  three  schooners,  I  directed  them  to  proceed  to 
Red  Bay,  where  the  cargo  was  to  be  landed  on  the  dock 
to  await  our  arrival.  WTien  our  power-boat  reached 
Red  Bay,  news  of  the  wreck  spread  through  all  the  little 


10       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

fishing- villages,  with  the  result  that  during  the  day 
some  twenty  or  thirty  trap-boats  came  from  north 
and  south.  But  mingled  with  my  feelings  of  relief  and 
appreciation  of  this  timely  help  were  grave  apprehen- 
sions for  the  safety  of  our  ship  and  cargo.  I  knew  all 
too  well  the  fate  of  the  last  wreck,  a  beautiful  iron  ship 
fitted  and  provisioned  for  two  years.  Her  crew  were 
driven  from  her  deck,  ropes  and  sails  cut  from  her  spars, 
fittings  torn  from  her  cabin,  and  the  provisions  loaded 
into  boats.  After  this  raid  she  was  sold  at  public  auc- 
tion on  the  dock  at  Battle  Harbor  for  the  princely  sum 
of  five  dollars! 

Fortunately,  through  my  work  in  Labrador  I  knew 
many  of  these  boatmen.  A  continuous  stream  of  boxes 
over  the  rail,  an  increasing  pile  upon  the  shore,  were 
testimonials  of  their  confidence  and  friendship.  Their 
pay  was  my  word. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  the  Stella  Maris,  the 
Newfoundland  government  steamer,  was  sighted  round- 
ing the  point.  To  my  astonishment,  I  learned  that 
during  the  night  there  had  been  such  a  severe  gale  only 
twenty  miles  away  that  she  was  compelled  to  give  up 
the  trip  and  remain  at  anchor  at  Cape  Charles.  In 
the  mean  time  we  had  had  hardly  a  particle  of  wind 
and  scarcely  a  ripple  on  the  water.  Providence.''  A 
miracle.''  Or  the  fickleness  of  nature.''  At  Cape  Charles 
it  was  unanimously  and  laconically  agreed,  "She's 
gone !"  At  Battle  Harbor,  with  the  wind  tearing  through 
the  tickle  and  the  rain  beating  against  the  window, 
grizzled  fishermen  peered  into  the  darkness,  muttering, 
"Not  a  trace  of  her  will  be  left!"  A  slight  swell,  how- 
ever, as  a  result  of  this  gale,  arose  during  the  day,  roll- 
ing the  Diana  considerably  from  starboard  to  port,  and 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  11 

with  each  roll  the  smoke-stack  rose  at  least  a  foot 
through  the  deck,  causing  grave  fears  that  she  could 
not  possibly  stand  the  strain. 

The  sharp  list  of  the  ship  made  it  impossible  to  keep 
water  in  one  of  our  boilers,  and  Mr.  Grossman,  our  chief 
engineer,  declared  that,  for  the  safety  of  the  ship  and 
men  on  board,  he  dared  not  risk  keeping  up  the  fires. 
An  explosion  was  imminent !  Yet,  upon  the  high  water, 
steam  was  absolutely  necessary  in  the  attempt  to  back 
the  ship  from  the  rocks!  He  was  persuaded  to  keep 
the  fires  bright  and  a  full  head  of  steam  on,  regardless 
of  the  consequences. 

On  the  flood,  the  Stella  Maris  passed  us  a  hawser, 
dropped  her  anchors  well  off  to  sea,  and  started  her 
steam-winches  and  propeller,  we  on  board  the  Diana 
starting  our  steam- winches  and  reversing  our  screw. 
The  Diana  did  not  budge.  We  kept  feverishly  at  the 
work,  lightening  the  ship,  knowing  that  she  must  come 
off  if  relieved  of  her  weight.  The  crew  offered  no  en- 
couragement whatever.  Most  of  them  had  packed 
their  bags  and  had  carried  them  ashore,  declaring 
that  no  ship  wrecked  on  Barge  Point  had  ever  left 
the  rocks. 

As  I  feared  for  the  safety  of  our  food  and  equipment 
on  the  land,  I  placed  Ekblaw,  Green,  Allen,  and  Tan- 
quary  as  guards.  Hunt  and  I  remained  on  board  the 
ship,  directing  the  work  of  unloading.  At  night  on  the 
high  water,  when  we  again  attempted  to  pull  the  Diana 
from  the  rocks,  we  were  both  down  in  the  hold  of  the 
ship  filling  the  coal-buckets,  and  coal  was  going  over  the 
rail  in  a  steady  stream,  when  a  shout  arose  from  the 
men  on  deck  that  we  were  slipping  off  into  deep  water. 
Captain  Waite  at  last  seemed  to  come  out  of  his  reverie. 


12      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

and  anchored  the  ship  about  three  hundred  yards  from 
the  shore,  just  at  dusk. 

Appreciating  the  danger  of  our  proximity  to  land  and 
the  probability  of  an  increase  of  wind  and  sea  at  any 
minute,  we  turned  instantly  to  the  work  of  reloading 
our  cargo,  seriously  handicapped  as  we  were  by  a  heavy 
mist  and  the  blackness  of  the  night.  We  were  about 
to  congratulate  ourselves  on  the  probable  success  of  our 
arduous  work,  with  no  sleep  and  very  little  food,  when 
a  man  arrived  from  the  shore  to  report  that  the  fisher- 
men, upon  whom  I  depended  for  the  reloading  of  the 
ship,  demanded  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents  an  hour  for 
their  services!  I  visited  the  shore  at  once,  impatient 
to  examine  this  new  species  of  Labrador  fisherman  who 
valued  his  services  so  highly.  There  stood  the  men 
with  hands  in  their  pockets,  looking  a  bit  sullen.  A  few 
words  resulted  in  their  acceptance  of  fifty  cents. 

That  night's  work  seems  like  a  nightmare.  The  rat- 
tle of  the  steam-winch,  the  cries  of  the  men,  the  flicker- 
ing lights,  the  boats  appearing  and  disappearing  in  the 
darkness,  the  aching  body,  the  sore  hands,  the  drunken 
crew!  Thank  God!  at  daylight  every  box  and  every 
single  item  of  our  equipment  were  again  restored  in  our 
hold  and  about  our  decks,  one  farmer-fisherman  ejacu- 
lating: "What  do  ye  think!  I  didn't  even  get  a  board 
for  me  barn  door!"  I  ordered  the  ship  to  proceed  to 
Red  Bay  for  the  boxes  which  the  three  fishing-schooners 
landed  there,  and  I  jumped  over  the  rail  of  the  deeply 
loaded  mail-boat,  walked  dizzily  to  a  state-room,  and  fell 
asleep  trying  to  remove  my  boots.  Forty-two  hours 
without  sleep,  combined  with  hard  physical  labor  and 
continuous  mental  strain,  inexorably  demanded  rest. 

On  the  19th  the  Diana  came  steaming  proudly  up  the 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  18 

coast  with  colors  flyingT  A  thorough  examination  was 
made  of  the  hull  in  Battle  Harbor,  with  the  result  that 
the  captain,  mate,  engineer,  and  every  man  of  the  crew 
declared  that  she  was  absolutely  unseaworthy.  I 
crawled  down  into  the  forehold  far  beneath  the  boxes, 
where  I  could  hear  a  steady  stream  of  water  trickling 
down  over  the  sheathing  and  running  aft  into  the  hold 
of  the  ship.  A  wireless  at  once  urged  the  Museum  to 
charter  the  Erik,  of  St.  John's.  Then  followed  a  trian- 
gular, endless  stream  of  instructions,  advice,  and  mis- 
understanding between  the  American  Museum,  Job 
Brothers,  and  myself.  Job  Brothers,  owners  of  the  ship, 
demanded  that  I  should  return  to  St.  John's  with  the 
Diana  before  delivering  the  Erik  in  charter  to  the  Ameri- 
can Museum;  and  so  I  was  reluctantly  forced  to  give  up 
my  plan  of  transferring  cargo  in  Battle  Harbor  and 
gave  orders  to  steam  to  St.  John's,  where  we  arrived  on 
July  27th.  We  had  the  same  sort  of  busy  days  here  as 
on  the  rocks  at  Barge  Point.  Not  a  moment  could  be 
lost;  work  must  be  carried  on  day  and  night.  It  was 
now  late  in  the  year,  and  only  for  a  few  days  during  the 
year  are  the  doors  of  the  Arctic  open,  and  if  one  does 
not  get  inside  when  they  are  open,  it  means  wait  for' 
another  year.  Back  we  steamed  to  Battle  Harbor  on 
August  3d  and  quickly  loaded  the  supplies  left  there 
by  the  Stella  Maris,  and  on  the  5th  we  were  again 
headed  toward  the  North. 

It  was  a  part  of  my  original  plan  to  call  at  the  Mo- 
ravian mission  stations  on  the  Labrador  for  sealskin 
boots  and  Eskimo  dog-drivers,  both  valuable  adjuncts 
to  an  Arctic  expedition,  the  former  being  superior  in 
every  way  to  anything  obtainable  in  North  Greenland, 
and  the  latter  possessing  that  very  valuable  and  much- 


14      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

appreciated  qualification  —  an  understanding  of  our 
own  language.  Lack  of  time,  however,  precluded  all 
thought  of  any  deviation  from  a  direct  course  to  Cape 
York. 

A  gale  in  Baffin  Bay  on  the  6th,  7th,  and  8th  knocked 
every  one  of  the  expedition  clean  down  and  out,  except- 
ing Jot  Small,  mechanic  and  cook,  who  has  never  known 
what  it  is  to  be  seasick. 

The  forecastle  deck  sprang  a  leak  and  the  crew  for'- 
ard  were  nearly  washed  out  of  their  berths.  With  every 
heavy  head  sea  the  bones  of  the  fifty-year-old  Erik 
fairly  shrieked  in  agony.  The  watchful  Jot  observed 
oiu"  house  lumber,  piled  high  on  the  skids,  lurching 
heavily  from  side  to  side  with  every  roll,  and  had  it 
more  securely  lashed,  thereby  saving  us  from  most 
serious  loss. 

On  August  12th  we  passed  over  the  Arctic  Circle,  but 
the  members  of  the  exp>edition  were  too  busy  bagging 
coal  for  our  winter  quarters  to  notice  any  perceptible 
bmnp  or  to  watch  the  bows  of  the  ship  for  the  boarding 
of  Father  Neptune,  who  in  these  latitudes  should  have 
walrus  tusks  and  a  harpoon  in  Heu  of  the  conventional 
flowing  beard  and  trident. 

Our  first  field  of  ice  on  the  13th  necessitated  a  detour 
to  the  eastward  of  about  five  miles;  and,  wonderful 
to  relate,  this  was  the  only  detour  made  during  the 
long  voyage  of  two  thousand  miles  from  Sydney  to 
Cape  York.  ^ 

Thick  fog  on  the  14th  caused  us  considerable  anxiety. 
The  innumerable  small  islands  and  outlying  ledges  off 
the  Greenland  shore  north  of  Upemavik  are  justly  to  be 
dreaded,  especially  following  a  long  period  of  thick 
weather,  making  sights  for  position  impossible  and  com- 


19131  NORTHWARD  HO!  15 

pass  variation  very  uncertain.  Out  of  the  thick  fog, 
dead  ahead  and  apparently  only  a  few  yards  distant, 
loomed  a  gigantic  berg,  its  great  bulk  threatening  in- 
stant destruction.  The  quick  eye  and  the  prompt 
action  of  Chief-engineer  Grossman,  who  happened  to 
be  on  the  bridge,  averted  a  catastrophe.  A  whirl  of 
the  wheel  hard  over  and  a  clanging  of  bells  in  the  en- 
gine-room filled  up  those  few  long  seconds  as  the  great 
black  shadow  crept  past  our  port  quarter  and  dissolved 
into  white  mist  behind  us.  With  the  darkening  of  the 
gray  curtain  into  the  silhouettes  of  numberless  bergs, 
through  which  we  cautiously  wound  at  a  snail's  pace,  I 
recognized  our  position  as  the  "Bergy  Hole'*  of  the 
Dundee  whalers  who  have  bravely  thrown  their  wooden 
ships  into  the  crushing,  grinding  ice  of  Melville  Bay  for 
a  century. 

Each  year  witnessed  the  return  of  these  magnificent 
fellows  in  their  sturdy  bluff-bowed  shipfe,  saw  them  fold 
their  wings  at  the  edge  of  the  ice  in  June,  and  begin 
that  long  struggle  toward  the  north  water,  170  miles 
distant.  The  thrill  of  the  whole  thing!  Here  was  the 
battle-field  of  a  century!  A  battle  against  the  titanic 
forces  of  nature,  where  man  matches  his  strength,  his 
ingenuity,  his  wit,  his  brains,  against  violent  winds, 
blinding,  drifting  snows,  biting  cold,  and  the  crushing 
strength  of  untold  millions  of  tons  of  ice.  A  blue  ribbon 
of  water  leading  northward  through  a  limitless  field  of 
glittering  whiteness,  the  ringing  command  of  ofiBcers, 
the  singing  of  the  tracking  men,  the  long  line  of  yarded 
ships,  the  pursuit  of  polar  bears,  the  crack  of  rifles,  the 
cheery  cry  from  ship  to  ship,  the  friendly  rivalry  as  one 
ship  forged  ahead  and  took  the  lead! 

Ice  conditions  in  Melville  Bay  during  the  so-called 


16       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

navigable  months — June,  July,  and  August — are  entirely 
dependent  upon  the  strength  of  the  prevailing  winds 
during  the  year.  Strong  prevailing  northerly  winds  pre- 
dict to  a  certainty  an  open  season,  especially  if  in  com- 
bination with  strong  southerly  winds.  The  latter 
break  up  the  great  northern  ice-fields;  the  former  re- 
move them.  In  1857  southerly  winds  blew  incessantly 
for  six  weeks,  with  the  result  that  all  whaling-ships 
were  beset  and  two  were  crushed.  In  1830  twenty -two 
ships  were  crushed,  one,  the  Race  Horse,  being  literally 
turned  inside  out  and  her  keel  forced  up  through  her 
deck.  One  thousand  men  retreated  to  the  Danish  set- 
tlements and  all  arrived  in  safety  except  two,  who  died 
from  the  effects  of  liquor. 

Some  years  are  really  remarkable  in  that  apparently 
all  the  northern  seas  have  been  swept  bare  of  ice  by 
strong  northerly  winds.  In  1871  the  Polaris,  under 
the  command  of  Charles  Francis  Hall,  plowed  through 
an  almost  iceless  sea  to  the  extremely  high  latitude  of 
82°  11',  which  was  farther  north  than  any  ship  had 
gone  under  steam.  In  1881  the  Proteus,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Greely,  proceeded  through  Baffin  Bay,  Smith 
Sound,  Kane  Basin,  and  Kennedy  Channel,  hardly  de- 
viating from  her  course.  In  1908  the  Roosevelt  steamed 
straight  on  toward  Cape  York,  encountering  no  ice 
whatever.  The  year  1913  was  just  such  a  year.  A 
record  in  crossing  Melville  Bay  simply  depended  upon 
the  speed  of  the  ship.  ^ 

At  10  P.M.  on  the  14th  the  fog  above  our  heads  dis- 
appeared completely,  revealing  a  blue  sky  and  massive 
black  mountains  well  off  the  starboard  quarter.  The 
surface-lying  mist  quickly  dissolved,  enabling  us  to 
recognize,  well  astern,  the  basalt  shaft  known  as  the 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  17 

Devil's  Thumb.  As  the  southern  boundary  of  Melville 
Bay  it  lifts  its  black  head  a  thousand  feet  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  bearing  a  striking  resemblance  to  an  old 
rugged,  upturned  thumb.  It  is  situated  in  74°  40', 
north  latitude,  165  miles  from  Cape  York. 

Cape  Seddon  and  Cape  Walker  could  be  seen  off  the 
starboard  bow  and,  within  a  few  hours.  Cape  Melville, 
dominating  heads  of  black  rocks  outlining  the  curve 
of  Melville  Bay. 

At  12.30  P.M.  on  August  15th  we  blew  our  whistle 
under  the  cliffs  of  Cape  York.  Only  ten  days  had  been 
consumed  in  our  long  trip  from  Battle  Harbor  to  this 
northern  settlement  of  the  Smith  Sound  tribe.  The  ice 
of  the  dreaded  Melville  Bay  had  not  even  scratched  our 
paint! 

One  hundred  years  ago.  Sir  John  Ross  navigated  his 
ship  through  Melville  Bay  and  arrived  at  the  edge  of 
the  ice-field  attached  to  these  shores.  To  his  amaze- 
ment, black  dots  were  seen  rapidly  approaching.  What 
in  the  world  could  they  he?  Eskimos  and  their  dog- 
teams  !  The  most  northern  people  in  the  world !  Eager- 
ly they  examined  the  big  ship  and  in  detail  everything 
connected  with  it.  Through  an  interpreter  from  South 
Greenland  they  asked  Sir  John  where  he  came  from. 
He  replied: 

"From  the  south." 

"That  is  impossible,"  they  said.  "No  one  could  live 
down  there.  All  of  our  ice  goes  off  in  that  direction. 
It  must  be  now  filled  up  with  ice!'* 

Doctor  Kane,  in  1853,  and  Doctor  Hayes,  in  1861, 
found  but  a  small  population,  and  stated  that  in  a  few 
years  undoubtedly  the  race  would  vanish.  There  are 
more  to-day  than  there  were  then,  and  they  are  in- 


18       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

creasing  rapidly.  In  1909  the  total  population  of  these 
northern  shores  numbered  218;   in  1917,  261. 

Four  kayaks  shot  out  from  the  shore.  We  scrutinized 
closely  the  face  of  each  occupant  in  hopes  of  recogniz- 
ing an  acquaintance  of  the  last  Peary  Expedition  of 
four  years  before.  All  Eskimos  dress  alike  and  wear 
the  hair  long,  so  that  their  identity  is  almost  indis- 
tinguishable at  a  distance.  We  often  recognize  a  man 
by  the  shape  of  his  kayak,  no  two  of  which  are  exactly 
alike 

"Look  at  the  girls!"  exclaimed  the  crew  for*ard,  who 
had  interpreted  the  long,  flowing  hair  of  the  men  as 
proof  of  the  opposite  sex.  The  "girls,"  clothed  in  seal- 
skin coats  and  bearskin  pants,  grinned  and  nodded  in 
response  to  the  salutations  of  the  coal-stained  line  of 
faces  of  the  firemen  at  the  rail;  they  appeared  highly 
complimented  at  the  recognition. 

One  face  looked  familiar.  Yes,  it  was  faithful  old 
Kai-o-ta,  my  traveling  companion  on  the  Polar  Sea 
and  to  the  northern  point  of  Greenland  in  1909;  the 
same  Kai-o-ta,  to  whom  Charlie,  the  cook,  gave  the 
tabasco  sauce  when  he  greedily  extended  his  mouth  for 
maple  syrup!  His  oleaginous  coat  of  dirt  cracked  in 
divers  directions  upon  our  mutual  recognition.  The 
voluble  fuzzy  center  of  a  group  of  highly  entertained 
white  men,  he  informed  me  of  the  whereabouts  of  the 
boys  whom  I  wanted  as  dog-drivers  and  general  assist- 
ants— ^the  boys  who  had  been  waiting  now  for  four 
years  upon  my  promise  to  return  and  lead  them  far 
west  to  a  new  land. 

Two  of  the  best  men  were  twenty  miles  south.  We 
immediately  turned  back  and  attempted  to  penetrate 
the  big  field  of  ice  lying  close  to  Bushnell  Island.    A 


a      f 


IS 


1913]  NORTHWARD  HO!  10 

few  hours'  work  convinced  me  of  its  impossibility,  and 
we  steamed  north  toward  Umanak,  arriving  there  at 
2  A.M.  on  the  16th.  Here  Panikpa  and  his  two  sons, 
Ka-ko-tchee-a  and  E-took-a-shoo,  were  told  of  my 
plans  and  were  soon  on  board  with  their  wives  and 
dogs  and  all  their  personal  efiPects. 

We  headed  now  toward  the  northern  settlements, 
hoping  to  complete  our  complement  of  men  and  dogs. 
Passing  Cape  Parry,  the  sharp  eye  of  Ekblaw  detected 
a  polar  bear  walking  along  the  shore.  Although  sadly 
in  need  of  skins  for  our  clothing,  I  decided  to  permit 
our  sportsmen  tourists  to  have  the  pleasure  of  getting 
their  first  trophy.  Our  twenty-eight-foot  whale-boat 
was  launched,  manned,  and  rowed  to  the  shore,  along 
which  Mr.  Bear  was  proceeding  in  a  leisurely  manner, 
wholly  unconscious  of  the  whispering,  crouching,  and  a 
bit  excited  group  that  followed  stealthily  from  shelter 
to  shelter,  some  armed  with  gigantic  cameras,  some 
with  heavy  rifles,  and  some  with  nothing  at  all. 

Suddenly  conscious  of  the  enemy,  the  bear  turned 
at  right  angles  and  ran  for  the  water;  but  not  too  quick- 
ly for  Judge  Sprigg.  A  well-directed  shot  added  another 
trophy  to  his  game  list.  The  head  dropped  beneath  the 
water;  the  body  lay  still,  and  with  considerable  diffi- 
culty it  was  rolled  into  the  boat. 

With  the  bear  on  our  deck  we  proceeded  around  Cape 
Parry  into  Whale  and  Murchison  Sounds,  ever  on  the 
watch  for  walrus  to  serve  as  food  for  our  dogs. 

Two  were  seen  on  a  pan  shortly  after  passing  the 
eastern  end  of  Herbert  Island. 

"Do  you  want  them?"  inquired  Captain  Kehoe. 

"Certainly.  I*d  like  to  have  them  for  dog  food," 
was  my  reply. 


20       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

Without  any  previous  warning  to  the  engine-room,  he 
pulled  the  bridge  telegraph  to  "Stop!'*  From  full  speed 
ahead  to  dead  stop  was  too  much  to  demand  of  the 
gouty,  wheezy  old  Erik.  There  was  a  commotion  in  the 
engine-room.  The  second  engineer  ran  for  the  throttle, 
the  chief  for  the  top  of  the  engine-room  ladder.  His 
fat  red  face  burst  out  of  the  companionway,  his  eyes 
fairly  popping  with  rage.  A  quick,  withering  glance  at 
the  captain  on  the  bridge  culminated  in  the  startling 
yell  of,  "You'll  blow  her  up!"  and  in  an  equally  sudden 
disappearance. 

The  innocent  and  crestfallen  captain  looked  at  the 
hole  leading  to  the  engine-room,  at  the  water  rushing 
by  without  any  notable  cessation,  and  at  me  with  a  be- 
wildered look  upon  his  face.     Finally  he  blurted  out: 

"What  koind  of  a  ship  is  it  that  they  can't  stop  her? 
I  never  heard  of  such  a  thing  in  all  me  days!" 

There  was  land  ahead,  and  I  wondered  if  Captain 
Kehoe  seriously  thought  of  putting  the  wheel  hard  over 
and  letting  the  Erik  travel  in  circles !  She  slowed  down, 
however,  somewhat  cautiously,  as  an  old  body  should, 
but  complaining  bitterly,  as  she  always  did. 

Under  the  direction  of  Murphy,  our  second  mate, 
two  walrus  were  shot  upon  the  pan  and  hoisted  to  our 
deck  with  the  steam-winch. 

At  Ig-loo-da-houny,  in  Murchison  Sound,  we  found  a 
large  number  of  Eskimos  in  camp  and  we  selected  three 
desirable  men — ^Arklio,  Teddy-ling-wa,  and  Tau-chingj- 
wa.  It  is  interesting  to  note  that  all  these  northern 
Eskimos,  although  apparently  very  prosperous  and  not 
in  need  of  white  man's  goods  because  of  the  proximity 
of  the  Danish  trading-station  at  North  Star  Bay,  were 
very  anxious  to  accompany  us. 


'      -"^iiik 

i 

* 

If^m^ 

i 

«±Lft. 

HV       d   f^i.£ ^.., m  ...^fM^^H 

WHEREVER    MOTHER    GOES,    BABY    GOES,    SNUGGLED    IN 
THE    HOOD   AGAINST    THE   WARM   BACK 


A  GOOD  WIFE  IS  A  GOOD  CHEWER.      BOOT  SOLES  ARE  A  GOOD  TEST  OF   TEETH 


191S]  NORTHWARD  HO!  21 

The  Eskimo  really  seems  to  appreciate  the  stranger's 
companionship,  and  he  enjoys  the  varied  experiences 
which  he  is  bound  to  have  when  in  search  of  new  lands. 
The  Eskimo  is  a  true  nomad.  Nothing  delights  him  so 
much  as  the  knowledge  of  the  fact  that  he  alone  of  the 
assembled  company  has  been  far  north  or  west  and 
knows  the  way  to  distant  hunting-grounds.  With  the 
certainty  of  the  white  man's  food  and  strong  equipment 
and  the  comfort  derived  from  tobacco,  he  loves  to 
undertake  these  sometimes  dangerous  journeys.  As  old 
Panikpa  once  said: 

"We  never  worry  on  such  trips.  We  let  the  white 
man  do  that." 

Nerky,  fifteen  miles  north,  furnished  us  with  Noo- 
ka-ping-wa  and  Oo-bloo-ya,  the  former  quite  unknown 
to  me,  but  the  latter  a  well-tried  and  trusty  man.  At 
Etah,  where  we  arrived  at  11  p.m.  on  the  18th,  one  more 
boy,  Ah-pellah,  was  taken  because  of  his  knowledge  of 
lands  to  the  far  west. 

On  the  19th  we  began  to  buck  the  ice  of  Smith  Sound 
in  the  endeavor  to  cross  to  the  selected  site  of  our  winter 
quarters  at  the  mouth  of  Flagler  Bay,  eighty  miles  due 
northwest.  A  few  hours'  work  convinced  me  that  my 
captain  had  no  intention  whatever  of  placing  the  old 
Erik  beyond  that  running  stream  of  ice  pouring  through 
the  narrowest  part  of  Smith  Sound.  Compelled  by  the 
insurance  company  to  select  a  man  with  a  "ticket," 
we  had  to  sacrifice  experience  in  ice  navigation  to  book 
learning  and  a  knowledge  of  finding  longitude  and  lati- 
tude. The  captain  was  afraid  the  ship  would  be  com- 
pelled to  winter  in  the  far  North,  and  he  hung  obsti- 
nately and  tenaciously  to  the  eastern  side  of  the  Sound 
and  well  out  of  aU  danger  of  being  caught  or  carried 


ii      POUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

to  the  south  by  drifting  ice.  For  six  long  days  we 
worked  back  and  forth  along  the  edge  of  the  pack, 
scarcely  bumping  a  pan  and  feeling  quite  secure  from 
the  terrors  of  the  Arctic  regions.  How  I  wanted  Bob 
Bartlett! 

On  the  25th  my  patience  was  exhausted.  I  realized 
that  we  were  simply  wasting  time  yachting  in  Arctic 
seas,  and  I  ordered  Captain  Kehoe  to  land  me  at  the 
nearest  spot,  Etah,  North  Greenland,  with  a  full  realiza- 
tion of  the  fact  that  our  goal  was  across  the  dreaded 
waters  of  Smith  Sound  and  that  what  should  have  been 
done  by  the  ship  must  now  be  done  over  the  ice  in 
early  spring  with  dog-team.  Fortunately,  my  experi- 
ence when  here  with  Peary  in  1908-09  stood  me  in  good 
stead,  enabling  me  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  Etah  Har- 
bor and  its  surroundings. 


n 


ETAH 


/^N  August  26th  we  moored  ship  close  to  the  rocks 
^^  of  Provision  Point,  Etah  Harbor,  and  in  two  days 
and  a  half,  with  the  help  of  our  Eskimos,  all  the  supplies 
and  equipment  of  the  Crocker  Land  Expedition  were 
landed  upon  the  rocks.  On  the  30th  the  Erik  blew  her 
whistle,  dipped  her  flag,  and  was  soon  out  of  sight  around 
Cape  Alexander,  ten  miles  to  the  south.  There  were 
no  tears  in  our  eyes  or  feelings  of  regret  that  we  had 
chosen  to  remain.  We  were  glad  to  see  her  go  and  thus 
sever  all  ties  with  home  and  civilization. 

The  name  Etah,  the  most  northern  settlement  in  the 
world,  is  so  well  known  that  it  may  be  somewhat  of  a 
shock  to  learn  that  what  is  considered  to  be  a  thriving 
settlement  really  consists  of  five  black-looking  holes  in 
a  sloping  hillside.  A  careful  census  reveals  the  amazing 
fact  that  in  some  years  even  these  holes  are  not  in- 
habited— a  deserted  village.  Other  years,  however,  the 
streets  are  crowded  with  as  many  as  fifteen  people! 
Upon  our  arrival  we  found  a  serious  congestion — nine- 
teen men,  women,  and  children. 

Etah,  or  Foulke  Fiord,  is  situated  on  the  shores  of 
North  Greenland  at  the  narrowest  part  of  Smith  Soimd, 
in  latitude  78°  20',  700  miles  from  the  North  Pole.     It 


24       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

was  first  visited  by  white  men  upon  the  arrival  of  mem- 
bers of  the  Kane  Expedition  in  1854,  who  found  some 
ten  or  a  dozen  Eskimos  encamped  here.  It  was  named 
Foulke  Fiord  after  William  Parker  Foulke,  of  Philadel- 
phia, by  Dr.  Isaac  Israel  Hayes,  who  wintered  in  1860- 
61  at  a  small  bight  in  the  land  just  south  of  the  entrance, 
which  he  called  Port  Foulke. 

At  the  head  of  the  fiord,  which  is  four  miles  in  length, 
and  separated  from  it  only  by  a  narrow  neck  of  land, 
lies  Alida  Lake,  named  after  a  friend  of  August  Sonntag, 
the  astronomer  of  both  the  Kane  and  Hayes  Expeditions. 
Into  Alida  Lake  dips  Brother  John's  Glacier,  so  called 
by  Doctor  Kane  after  his  brother,  John  Kane,  who 
visited  this  spot  in  1855  on  the  relief  expedition.  Etah 
itself  is  a  beautiful  harbor,  with  its  cliffs  rising  almost 
from  the  water's  edge  to  the  height  of  1,100  feet,  and  it 
is  one  of  the  very  few  good  harbors  in  North  Greenland, 
since  it  opens  toward  the  southwest,  a  quarter  from 
which  few  gales  ever  come. 

Etah  has  played  an  important  role  in  Arctic  history. 
Standing  on  the  heights  of  the  hills,  we  had  before  us 
in  panorama  a  complete  picture  of  the  struggle  of  the 
last  sixty -five  years,  a  story  of  great  endeavor,  of  hercu- 
lean effort,  of  triumph  over  all  obstacles,  of  victory 
won;  a  story  of  disaster,  of  shattered  hopes,  of  utter 
defeat,  starvation,  and  death. 

In  August,  1852,  the  Isabel,  under  the  command  of 
Capt.  E.  A.  Inglefield,  came  around  Cape  Alexander,  tep 
miles  to  the  south,  and  "beheld  the  open  sea  stretching 
through  seven  points  of  the  compass."  Bravely  she 
bore  up,  bucking  into  a  heavy  head  sea  and  strong 
northerly  wind,  but  just  above  Etah  she  was  compelled 
to  swing  on  her  heel  and  drive  rapidly  south  over  the 


1913] 


ETAH 


25 


distant  horizon.  One  year  later  the  little  brig  Advance, 
under  the  command  of  the  first  American  explorer,  Dr. 
Elisha  Kent  Kane,  came  sailing  around  the  same  point. 
Her  men  landed  on  the  shores  of  Littleton  Island,  built 
a  cairn,  raised  their  flag,  and  celebrated  the  record  of 
farthest  north  in  Smith  Sound.     The  ship  proceeded. 


ETAH    AND    VICINITY 


and  disappeared  around  Cape  Hatherton,  ten  miles  to 
the  north. 

One  year  later  a  group  of  men  appeared  from  the  north, 
dragging  a  whaling-boat.  It  was  launched,  and  off  they 
sped  toward  Beechy  Island  to  obtain  help,  if  possible, 
from  Sir  Edward  Belcher's  squadron,  fast  frozen  in  the 
ice.  Early  in  August  the  boat  returned  and  disappeared 
again  into  the  north.  Another  year  went  by,  and  then 
two  boats  were  seen  being  dragged  slowly  southward 


26      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

over  the  ice  toward  Littleton  Island.  Doctor  Kane 
and  his  men,  after  two  years  of  hardships,  had  decided 
to  abandon  the  good  ship  Advance  in  Rensselaer  Harbor 
and  sail  south  in  their  little  boats  toward  the  South 
Greenland  settlements.  The  Eskimos  of  Etah  fed  them 
day  after  day  on  the  bodies  of  the  little  auks.  The 
boats  went  south  and  disappeared  around  Cape 
Alexander. 

Two  months  later  the  steamship  Arctic,  under  the  com- 
mand of  Lieut.  H.  J.  Hartstene,  steamed  slowly  along  the 
shore  in  search  of  Doctor  Kane  and  his  men.  Upon 
being  informed  by  the  Etah  Eskimos  that  the  white 
men  had  gone  south,  the  steamship  turned  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  distance.  In  1860  the  little  schooner 
United  States,  under  the  command  of  Dr.  Isaac  I.  Hayes, 
appeared.  Buffeted  by  wind  and  ice,  she  crept  into  the 
niche  below  Etah  Harbor,  almost  a  complete  wreck. 
Here  she  remained  during  the  winter,  while  the  men  in 
the  early  spring  plodded  northward,  dragging  their  boats 
on  their  sledges,  hoping  to  launch  them  in  an  open  polar 
sea.    In  1861  she,  too,  sailed  away  toward  the  south. 

Ten  years  later  the  U.S.S.  Polaris,  under  the  command 
of  Charles  Francis  Hall,  steamed  proudly  past  Etah, 
through  Smith  Sound,  Kane  Basin,  Kennedy  Channel, 
and  Robeson  Channel  to  the  record-breaking  latitude  of 
82°  11'.  One  year  later  she  drifted  helplessly  southward, 
locked  in  the  ice.  In  danger  of  being  crushed,  the  men 
threw  boxes  of  food  over  the  rail  onto  the  ice-floe.  T^e 
crack  between  the  ship  and  the  floe  widened.  Nineteen 
men,  women,  and  children,  adrift  on  the  pan,  started 
on  their  long  trip  of  1,300  miles  through  the  darkness  of 
the  winter  night,  to  be  picked  up  off  Grady  Harbor, 
Labrador,  on  April  30, 1873.    The  remainder  of  the  crew 


1913]  ETAH  27 

worked  their  ship  through  the  broken  floes  into  a  shel- 
tered nook  on  the  mainland  just  north  of  Littleton 
Island.  The  ship  was  stripped  of  everything  valuable, 
and  a  small  house  was  constructed  to  serve  as  winter 
quarters.  In  the  spring  two  boats  were  built,  and 
passed  Etah  on  their  way  south.  The  ship  drifted  from 
the  beach  and  sank  between  Littleton  Island  and  the 
mainland. 

In  1875  two  of  England's  proudest  and  best  ships, 
the  Alert  and  Discovery,  steamed  grandly  by  and  dis- 
appeared over  the  northern  horizon  on  their  way  to  the 
North  Pole.  One  year  later  the  little  Pandora,  under 
command  of  Sir  Allen  Young,  paced  restlessly  back  and 
forth  at  the  edge  of  the  big  ice-field  stretching  across  to 
Cape  Isabella,  in  the  hopes  of  being  able  to  penetrate 
the  pack  and  get  into  communication  with  Sir  George 
Nares,  who  was  at  the  same  time  slowly  making  his  way 
southward  down  through  Kennedy  and  Robeson  Chan- 
nels, homeward  bound.  In  a  few  weeks  the  two  ships 
sailed  toward  the  south,  having  broken  the  world's  record 
for  farthest  North. 

In  1881  the  American  flag  again  entered  Smith  Sound. 
Greely,  of  the  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedition,  steamed 
by  in  the  Proteus  on  his  way  to  winter  quarters  in 
Lady  Franklin  Bay  on  the  eastern  shores  of  Grant  Land. 
The  ship  returned,  leaving  these  men  in  the  far  North 
with  the  understanding  that  a  ship  was  to  visit  the 
station  each  year.  In  1882  the  Neptune  cruised  in  vain 
along  tiie  edge  of  the  ice  opposite  Etah,  looking  for  an 
opportunity  to  get  through.  She  failed  in  her  purpose 
and  retreated  south.  In  1883  the  Proteus  again  passed 
Etah.  She  proceeded  to  Cape  Sabine,  and  within  a  few 
hours  after  leaving  that  point  was  crushed  in  the  ice 


28      FOUR  YEARS  EST  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

and  disappeared.  The  men  passed  Etah  in  three  small 
boats  on  their  way  southward.  Late  in  the  fall  of  the 
same  year  a  party  of  men  were  seen  drifting  far  out  in 
the  ice  of  Smith  Sound.  They  zigzagged  back  and  forth 
across  the  channel,  and  finally  succeeded  in  landing  at 
Eskimo  Point  on  the  EUesmere  Land  coast,  some  thirty 
miles  west  of  Etah.  Greely  and  his  men  were  obeying 
orders  and  going  to  their  death.  They  walked  north- 
ward to  Cap>e  Sabine,  built  a  hut  there,  and  died  one  by 
one  until  only  seven  were  left. 

Li  1884  two  ships  sent  by  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, under  the  command  of  Captain,  later  Admiral, 
Schley,  arrived  at  Etah  in  search  of  the  lost  expedition. 
An  examination  of  the  cache  established  at  Littleton 
Island  in  1882  revealed  the  fact  that  Greely  and  his 
men  had  not  passed  that  point.  The  two  ships  steamed 
through  the  ice  to  Cape  Sabine.  There,  on  Brevoort 
Island,  a  note  was  found  informing  the  searchers  that 
Greely  and  his  men  were  in  camp  some  three  miles 
away,  on  the  opposite  shores  of  Bedford  Pim  Island.  In 
a  few  days  the  two  ships  passed  Etah  with  the  living 
and  the  dead,  bound  south  to  report  to  the  homeland 
the  result  of  their  search. 

In  1897  another  ship  steamed  past  this  spot.  It  was 
Peary  on  a  reconnaissance  of  the  Smith  Soimd  route 
to  the  Pole.  The  year  1898  saw  the  flags  of  two  nations 
go  by,  the  American  expedition  under  the  command  of 
Peary,  and  the  Norwegian  expedition  in  the  old  Fram, 
under  the  leadership  of  Sverdrup.  An  exceptionally 
hard  year  prevented  progress  toward  the  north,  with 
the  result  that  1899  saw  both  ships  anchored  in  Etah 
Harbor.  The  years  1900-01  again  saw  the  ships  of 
Peary  engaged  in  the  work,  bringing  supplies,  and  taking 


191SI  ETAH  29 

him  southward  in  1902.  In  1905  the  S.S.  Roosevelt  en- 
tered upon  the  scene.  More  strongly  built  than  all  the 
others,  she  plowed  her  way  through  the  heavy  ice  of  the 
Smith  Sound  route,  steaming  farther  north  than  any 
ship  has  ever  steamed  and  reaching  her  winter  quarters 
on  the  northern  shores  of  Grant  Land.  In  1906  she 
crept  into  Etah  Harbor,  a  battered  hulk.  In  1907 
Doctor  Cook  arrived  in  the  John  R.  Bradley  and  pro- 
ceeded on  toward  Annoritok.  The  year  1908  beheld 
the  Roosevelt  again,  with  her  consort,  the  Erik,  steaming 
proudly  into  Etah,  loaded  to  the  rail  with  dogs  and 
Eskimos,  in  her  last  and  successful  attempt  to  reach  the 
North  Pole.  Here  again,  in  1909,  she  steamed  south 
with  colors  flying,  to  announce  the  attainment  of  the 
three-hundred-year  prize.  In  1910  the  Beothic,  char- 
tered by  Rainey,  under  the  command  of  Bartlett, 
steamed  into  Etah,  crossed  the  Sound,  and  disappeared 
southward.  In  1913  the  Crocker  Land  Expedition  en- 
tered upon  the  stage.  The  old  Erik  landed  her  supplies, 
as  I  have  said,  blew  her  whistle,  and  disappeared  around 
Cape  Alexander. 

As  soon  as  we  had  landed,  my  first  thought  was  that 
the  game  supply  might  prove  inadequate  for  the  needs 
of  the  expedition  party  and  our  Eskimo  recruits;  there- 
fore I  decided  to  send  them  all  south  again  to  their 
homes,  with  the  exception  of  old  Panikpa  and  his  fam- 
ily and  E-took-a-shoo,  with  orders  to  report  to  me  the 
following  February. 

I  remembered  Peary's  experience  here  in  1899-1900 
with  strong  winds  which  swept  down  off  the  Greenland 
ice-cap  and  across  the  harbor  out  to  sea;  this  induced 
me  to  build  our  house  in  the  vicinity  of  the  centuries-old 
rock  igloos  of  the  natives,  trusting  to  their  judgment 


30       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

to  discover  the  sheltered  sites.  Subsequent  years  proved 
that  there  were  no  favorable  building  lots  in  Etah  Fiord. 
However,  here  we  were  and  here  we  must  live.  A  green 
spot  on  the  northern  shores,  a  few  yards  distant  from 
a  waterfall  and  running  stream,  was  selected  for  the 
location  of  our  northern  home.  We  pitched  our  tents 
and  our  Arctic  life  began.  We  blew  out  the  large  boul- 
ders with  dynamite  to  level  the  foundation  of  our  house, 
and  excavated  two  large  rooms  which  later  proved  to 
be  most  attractive  abodes  for  our  Eskimo  helpers.  The 
boys  worked  long  and  hard  from  seven  in  the  morning 
to  eleven  at  night,  through  all  kinds  of  wind  and  weather; 
through  rain,  snow,  and  sleet. 

To  his  many  scientific  attainments  Ekblaw  added 
those  of  a  practical  workman,  so  to  him  was  intrusted 
the  planning  and  building  of  the  eight-foot  shed  encircling 
two  sides  of  our  house,  a  very  valuable  addition,  serving 
as  meat,  harness,  and  provision  room,  and  also  as  an 
Eskimo  igloo.     The  work  was  admirably  done. 

In  two  weeks,  under  the  direction  of  Small,  master 
builder,  om*  house  was  habitable.  During  the  four 
years  we  lived  there  we  were  very  comfortable  in  all 
kinds  of  weather,  with  the  consumption  of  only  thirty- 
five  tons  of  coal,  which  we  had  landed  on  the  beach  in 
bags  previous  to  the  departure  of  the  Erik.  Our  house 
was  thirty-five  feet  square,  double,  with  a  four-inch  air- 
space constructed  of  seven-eighth-inch  boards,  tongued 
and  grooved,  covered  with  Cabot  quilt  and  rubbejoid 
roofing.  Eight  rooms  on  the  ground  floor  were  appar- 
ently a  luxury,  but  they  were  really  necessary  and  most 
conducive  toward  the  happiness  of  the  men  and  the 
successful  carrying  out  of  our  plans. 

Leading  off  from  our  large  living-room  were  four  bed- 


115  110 105  100  95  do  85  80  1 


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19131  ETAH  SI 

rooms  which  also  served  as  working-rooms.  In  the  rear 
were  three  rooms — a  workshop,  an  electrical  room  con- 
taining oiu"  oil-engine,  batteries,  etc.,  and  a  photographic 
dark-room.  To  the  surprise  of  the  Eskimos,  our  house 
was  fitted  with  electric  lights.  A  large  flash-light  over 
the  door  welcomed  visiting  Eskimos  from  the  south 
and  proved  of  great  value  in  loading  and  unloading 
sledges  during  the  long,  dark  winter  night.  The  electric 
current,  generated  by  a  beautiful  oil-engine  and  dyna- 
mo, was  a  necessary  part  of  our  wireless  equipment. 

In  my  room  there  was  a  telephone  connected  with  the 
igloos  of  the  Eskimos — another  wonder,  and  one  which 
caused  no  end  of  talk.  Requests  from  the  cav^-men 
came  thick  and  fast  for  tobacco!  A  people  really 
living  in  the  stone  age  were  enjoying,  as  though  by  a 
wave  of  the  hand,  two  of  the  greatest  of  modem  dis- 
coveries. They  never  quite  understood  the  telephone 
or  electric  lights,  wondering  how  sound  or  light  could 
possibly  travel  through  a  solid  wire! 

Our  meteorological  work  began  with  our  landing  upon 
the  shore,  and  was  continued  uninterruptedly  for  four 
years,  with  the  exception  of  a  break  in  our  observations 
of  about  ten  days  in  September,  1915,  when  all  the  men 
were  away  from  Etah. 

I  realized  the  importance  of  having  plenty  of  fresh 
meat  for  my  men,  and  I  encouraged  the  Eskimos  to 
hunt  incessantly  and  bring  to  the  house  for  trade  all 
that  they  could  possibly  spare.  As  a  result,  when  dark- 
ness settled  down  over  the  land  in  October,  for  the  long 
period  of  118  days,  our  meat-room  was  well  stocked 
with  the  bodies  of  frozen  hare,  eider  duck,  seal,  walrus, 
and  caribou  meat. 

Much  has  been  said*  pro  and  con  about  the  use  of  fur 


32       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [Oct. 

clothing  in  tlie  Arctic.  An  expedition  of  some  years 
ago  objected  to  furs  because  of  the  smell;  others  have 
criticized  their  use  because  of  the  unbearable  heat  con- 
sequent upon  hard  work.  I  received  my  training  under 
Peary,  a  man  of  twenty  years  of  most  successful  work  in 
the  far  North,  and  naturally  I  approved  and  followed 
his  methods  in  every  detail  of  my  work.  I  consider 
furs  absolutely  essential  and  indeed  indispensable  for 
the  hard,  cold  work  of  the  early  spring  trips  of  February, 
March,  and  April.  "Do  as  the  Eskimos  do;  dress  as 
the  Eskimos  dress,**  is  a  good  adage  to  follow. 

It  occurred  to  me,  when  fitting  out  the  expedition, 
that  here  would  be  an  opportunity  to  experiment  upon 
the  relative  value  of  woolens  and  furs,  by  offering  to 
the  men  a  choice  between  the  most  approved  wind- 
proof  material  obtained  in  this  country  and  the  light, 
warm  furs  of  the  far  North.  The  personnel  of  the 
Crocker  Land  Expedition  had  the  very  best  cold- weather 
clothing  which  could  be  bought  in  New  York  City,  and 
yet  not  a  man  seriously  thought  at  any  time  of  wearing 
the  high-priced  woolen  suit.  We  deferred  to  the  judg- 
ment of  people  who  have  been  living  here  at  the  top 
of  the  earth  for  centuries. 

The  services  of  the  Eskimo  women  at  Etah  were  in- 
valuable. Within  a  few  months  every  man  was  beauti- 
fully and  warmly  clad  in  caribou-skin  coats,  bearskin 
pants,  and  sealskin  boots,  and  each  one  was  ready  and 
eager  for  the  big  work  of  the  expedition  to  begin — the 
exploration  of  Crocker  Land  far  out  on  the  Polar  Sea, 
due  northwest  of  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard. 

With  the  forming  of  sea  ice  Etah  was  the  Mecca  of 
the  North;  all  roads  led  from  the  south.  Eskimo  men, 
women,  and  children,  with  their  dog-teams,  came  from 


191SJ  ETAH  SS 

200  miles  away  to  see  the  white  strangers  and  their 
wonderful  house  at  Etah.  Our  home  was  overcrowded 
with  the  bodies  of  sixty  Eskimos,  sleeping  in  our  attic, 
in  the  carpenter's  shop,  in  the  dark-room,  under  our 
beds,  and  under  the  floor.  Two  hundred  loose  dogs 
prowled  about  the  grounds.  There  was  very  little  dog 
food  in  the  settlement,  and  our  visitors  remained  imtil 
their  dogs  were  so  weak  that  they  could  hardly  pull 
them  toward  their  southern  homes.  They  wanted  to 
see  all,  and  to  hear  all,  and  our  boys  entertained  them  in 
every  conceivable  way. 

Ekblaw  never  tired  of  amusing  them,  seated  about 
our  big  kitchen  table,  with  games  of  the  homeland. 
Tanquary  sang  to  them  in  his  deep  bass  voice  to  the 
accompaniment  of  his  guitar.  Jot  Small  had  a  partially 
bald  head,  a  wrinkled  face,  long  red  whiskers,  and  a  most 
extraordinary  knowledge  of  the  Eskimo  language,  which, 
when  accompanied  by  a  vigorous  waving  of  both  arms, 
brought  forth  gales  of  laughter.  Hunt  was  the  Ange- 
kok,  the  big-medicine  man!  He  had  bottles  of  wonder- 
ful pills!  He  could  sew  up  wounds  with  needle  and 
thread!  He  could  put  you  to  sleep  and  cut  off  fingers 
and  toes!  And  he  could  pull  teeth  so  quickly  that  you 
could  hardly  feel  it!  The  big  doctor  had  a  warm  place 
in  their  hearts.  But  Allen  was  the  man  who  made  the 
lights  in  the  big  dark-room,  the  man  who  put  the  very 
devil  in  door-latches  so  you  could  not  get  in,  and  the 
same  thing  in  bowls  of  water! 

The  days  were  shortening  gradually,  until  finally 
came  October  24th,  when  the  sun  dropped  below  the 
horizon.  Former  travelers  have  described  in  detail  the 
frightfulness  of  the  Arctic  night.  They  have  failed  to 
tell  of  the  indescribable  beauty,  the  solemnity,  which 


S4      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Oct. 

pervades  and  embraces  all,  when  the  sea  ice,  the  valleys, 
the  hills,  the  peaks,  and  the  receding  glaciers  are  bathed 
in  the  lights  and  shadows  of  a  revolving  full  moon.  A 
fairyland  of  the  dreams  of  childhood! 

None  of  the  earlier  expeditions  ever  thought  of  at- 
tempting sledge-work  during  the  darkness  of  the  winter 
period,  regarding  it  as  positively  suicidal.  Ships  were 
frozen  in,  housed  over,  banked  deep  in  snow,  and  all 
was  made  comfortable  for  the  cold  months  to  follow. 
Lime-juice  and  grog  were  issued.  Papers  were  pub- 
lished. Schools  were  kept.  Daily  lessons  were  as- 
signed. One  hour's  exercise  was  enforced.  Theaters 
were  opened.  Birthdays  were  celebrated — everything 
and  anything  to  divert  the  mind.  Much  has  been  writ- 
ten of  "the  monotonous  night  that  drives  men  mad, 
of  hair  turning  gray,  of  steps  growing  enfeebled  follow- 
ing the  departure  of  the  life-giving  sun,"  etc.  After 
five  years  of  Arctic  work,  and  four  of  these  years  in  suc- 
cession, I  can  truthfully  say  that  never  for  a  minute 
have  I  missed  this  "life-giving  sun.'*  I  never  longed  for 
it  to  return;  my  health  was  in  no  way  affected  by  dark- 
ness, and  monotony  was  absolutely  unknown.  As  a  boy, 
plunging  into  the  warm  waters  of  Cape  Cod,  I  looked  for- 
ward to  the  freezing  of  the  pond  when  I  could  go  skating; 
so  from  the  kayak  of  the  Arctic  summer  months  I  looked 
forward  to  the  freezing  of  the  great,  restless,  open  sea 
when  I  could  go  sledging. 

The  returning  Arctic  explorer  is  often  asked,  "What 
can  you  do  during  the  dark  period?"  Let  me  enumerate 
the  following  subjects  in  which,  if  one  is  thoroughly  in- 
terested, months  of  profitable  time  may  be  expended: 

(1)  Photography.  Exceptional  opportunities  are  of- 
fered  for   securing   negatives   of   the   revolving   stars. 


1913]  ETAH  '  S5 

planets,  and  moon;  long  exposures  of  snow  houses  and 
Eskimo  villages;  flash-lights  of  visiting  Eskimos;  while 
negatives  made  during  the  summer  may  be  classified, 
indexed,  and  packed  away  for  transportation.  During 
the  fifteen  hundred  days  in  the  North  I  exposed,  devel- 
oped, and  filed  five  thousand  negatives. 

(2)  Meteorology.  During  the  first  two  years,  baro- 
metric and  thermometric  readings,  also  cloud  percentage 
and  force  and  direction  of  wind,  were  recorded  every 
hour.  During  the  last  two  years  barographs  and  ther- 
mographs were  recorded  every  second  of  the  time. 

(3)  Zoology.  Darkness  and  low  temperatures  mili- 
tate to  some  extent  against  the  handling  of  equipment 
necessary  in  the  collecting  of  zoological  specimens  be- 
neath the  ice  of  fiord,  ponds,  and  lakes.  However,  it 
can  be  done  and  has  been  done  most  successfully.  The 
fact  that  conditions  are  so  adverse  to  life  only  increases 
one's  curiosity  and  interest;  and  we  also  have  with  us 
for  study  the  larger  forms  of  life,  such  as  the  raven,  owl, 
hare,  fox,  caribou,  musk-oxen,  white  woK,  walrus,  white 
whale,  narwhale,  and  four  varieties  of  seal. 

(4)  Ethnology.  Here  is  a  tremendous  field.  The 
hours  of  every  single  day  could  be  expended  in  noting 
the  tales  and  traditions  of  the  Smith  Sound  native;  in 
studying  the  very  difficult  language;  in  anthropometric 
measurements;  in  jotting  on  the  Sargent  chart  the  phys- 
ical development  of  both  men  and  women;  and  in 
recording  their  music,  their  amusements,  their  philos- 
ophy, and  their  religion. 

Other  absorbing  interests  I  need  only  mention  by 
name:  Magnetism,  seismology,  practical  astronomy, 
tidal  observations,  measurement  and  growth  of  the  sea 
ice,  and  temperature  records. 


86       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Nov. 

To  be  happy  in  the  North,  and  this  I  consider  to  be 
the  greatest  security  against  illness,  it  is  necessary  for 
one  to  have  various  interests.  If  a  man  is  interested  in 
one  subject  only,  such  as  ornithology,  what  will  be  the 
result  when  the  birds  fly  south  in  September  to  be  gone 
for  nine  months?  A  new  subject  must  be  taken  up 
with  the  changing  seasons,  thus  bringing  contentment 
and  a  forgetfulness  of  the  great  world  to  the  south. 

Those  fall  months  of  1913  were  the  very  busiest  of  the 
expedition,  and  every  man  was  enthusiastic  and  eager 
to  contribute  something  to  the  work.  There  was  the 
home  to  build;  rooms  to  be  made  comfortable;  meteoro- 
logical observations  to  be  taken;  day  and  night  watches 
to  stand,  as  a  preventive  against  that  equipment- 
devouring  and  plan-destroying  enemy — fire;  meat  to 
get;  provisions  to  be  tumped  over  the  rocks  for  a  half- 
mile;  and  wireless  and  electric-light  plants  to  be  in- 
stalled. 

Thanksgiving  Day,  Thursday,  November  27th,  found 
us  well  and  happy,  and  abnormally  eager  to  begin  upon 
the  following  menu: 

Little  Neck  clam  broth 
Roast  Greenland  caribou,  cranberry  sauce 
Turnips        Potatoes 
Apple  pie        Squash  pie 
Plum  pudding 
Grape-juice        CoflFee 
Nuts  and  raisins         McLeod  fruit  cake       ^ 
An  Eskimo  boy  clothed  in  spotless  white  waited  on 
the  table.     After  we  were  well  rounded  out  with  all 
these  good  things,  thirty-five  Eskimos  were  fed  from  the 
leavings,   all  looking  supremely  happy  as  the  choice 
delicacies  disappeared  one  by  one. 


SIIOO-E-GING-WA   AND    HER    PET 


in 

OUB  FIRST  WINTER 

"^yi  iTHEN  we  landed  at  Etah  I  hoped  we  might  be 
'  '  able  to  cross  the  Sound  at  least  by  the  1st  of 
February,  but  as  the  days  went  on  I  could  contain  my- 
self no  longer  and  felt  that  something  must  be  done. 
Although  I  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  a  crossing 
of  Smith  Sound  at  this  time  would  be  impossible,  I 
reasoned  that  it  would  be  of  great  help  to  the  work  if 
an  advance  depot  of  supplies  could  be  laid  down  some 
fifteen  miles  north  of  the  point  of  crossing. 

In  former  years  there  was  always  a  strong  tendency 
to  delay  the  departure  of  an  expedition  until  the  warm 
days  of  spring.  Living,  as  the  men  did,  in  tents,  pull- 
ing their  own  sledges,  and  clothed  in  woolens,  this  was 
but  natural.  A  sixty-below-zero  wind  coming  into 
contact  with  hot,  perspiring,  tired  men  might  easily 
defeat  all  the  purposes  for  which  an  expedition  was 
planned.  The  date  for  leaving  winter  quarters  depends 
upon  the  nature  of  the  work,  the  physical  conditions  of 
the  coimtry,  and  the  length  of  the  route.  When  follow- 
ing the  indentations  of  a  northern  land,  such  work  can 
well  be  continued  until  late  in  June  and  with  profitable 
results,  following  the  traveling  upon  the  so-called  ice- 
foot, the  great  natural  highway  of  the  North;  but  work 


38      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Dec. 

over  stretches  of  water  or  out  over  the  drift  ice  of  the 
Polar  Sea  must  cease  by  June  1st  to  insure  the  safety 
of  the  men.  The  sea  ice  at  this  time  is  rapidly  disin- 
tegrating under  the  warm  rays  of  the  spring  sun  and 
drifting  away  toward  the  south  in  sheets,  leaving  large 
lanes  of  water,  barriers  to  dog  and  sledge.  The  longer 
the  route  under  such  conditions,  the  earlier  should  be 
the  start,  in  order  that  the  party  may  reach  home  in 
good  season. 

On  the  return  from  our  projected  1,400-mile  trip, 
the  dangerous  waters  of  Smith  Sound  lay  across  our 
course,  directly  in  sight  of  home.  In  certain  years  this 
stretch  of  water,  under  the  stress  of  strong  southerly 
gales,  has  broken  up  early  and  rapidly,  and  so  much  was 
to  be  done  at  Etah  during  the  summer  months  that  I 
could  take  no  chances  whatever  of  not  getting  back  to 
Borup  Lodge. 

December  6th  saw  the  beginning  of  my  plan.  Be- 
neath the  glow  of  a  big  electric  light  over  our  door  our 
five  sledges  were  being  packed  for  the  north,  and  four 
Eskimo  sledges  for  the  south.  The  dogs  were  yelping 
and  tugging  at  their  traces,  impatient  to  be  off;  the 
Eskimos  were  shouting,  the  whips  were  snapping.  At 
last  work  had  begun!  Oh,  the  joy  of  the  whole  thing! 
I  envied  Ekblaw  and  Green  their  initiatory  ride  as  they 
snuggled  up  behind  their  drivers,  ready  to  start  with 
supplies  for  the  first  depot. 

At  ten  in  the  evening  of  the  8th  they  were  back^  re- 
porting excellent  going,  the  depot  established,  the 
Sound  apparently  frozen,  and  a  temperature  at  the 
cache  of  thirty-nine  below  zero — all  of  which  seemed  too 
good  to  be  true.  The  bitter  disappointment  consequent 
upon  the  failure  of  our  ship  to  land  us  at  the  head  of 


1913]  OUR  FIRST  WINTER  39 

Flagler  Bay  was  somewhat  mitigated  by  the  hope  that 
we  might  possibly  cross  over  the  thin  ice  at  this  unpre- 
cedented time  of  year.  "Rush"  was  the  word  before 
a  southerly  gale  should  break  up  the  ice  of  Smith  Sound. 
Clothing  was  dried.  Repairs  were  made  to  sledges  and 
harness.  On  the  11th  they  were  off  again,  with  orders 
to  cross  to  Cape  Sabine  with  full  loads.  From  there 
they  were  to  proceed  well  up  Buchanan  Bay  and  estab- 
lish Depot  B. 

On  the  15th  the  boys  were  back  with  the  shout  from 
Toi-tee-a,  "We  have  killed  five  polar  bears!"  Fresh 
meat  for  our  table  and  warm  skins  for  our  pants !  And 
Depot  B,  to  my  joy,  had  been  established  at  Cape 
Rutherford,  some  fifty  miles  to  the  west.  This  ad- 
vance of  1,738  pounds  of  biscuit  and  pemmican  over 
the  thin  ice  of  Smith  Sound  in  the  middle  of  the 
long  night  was  the  first  great  step  toward  the  success- 
ful completion  of  our  spring  work.  With  this  accom- 
plished, we  could  now  concentrate  for  the  next  six 
weeks  upon  the  experimenting  and  perfecting  of  our 
field  equipment. 

Sledges  were  continually  coming  and  going.  Doctor 
Hunt  left  on  the  14th  in  response  to  a  call  from  an 
Eskimo  to  the  south.  Allen's  illness  on  the  15th  caused 
me  considerable  anxiety,  necessitating  a  message  to 
Doctor  Hunt  to  return  at  once.  He  got  back  on  the 
19th,  having  covered  the  distance  of  100  miles  with 
Noo-ka-ping-wa  and  dog-team  in  two  marches. 

Jot  Small  stuck  his  head  out  of  the  door  in  October, 
pulled  it  in  quickly,  and  declared  that  he  was  not  going 
out  again  until  spring!  Threatened  with  sciu'vy  and 
other  dreadful  Arctic  diseases,  he  was  prevailed  upon  to 
accompany  Tanquary  on  a  short  trip  south  to  the  near- 


40      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Dec. 

est  Eskimo  village  of  Nerky.  When  they  arrived  at 
their  first  camp  below  Cape  Alexander,  at  the  old,  un- 
inhabited village  of  Sulwuddy,  imagine  their  astonish- 
ment to  find  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa,  age  fifty-seven,  snugly 
ensconced  in  a  new  snow  house  with  his  temporarily 
exchanged  wife,  Ah-took-sung-wa.  Panikpa,  age  fifty- 
six,  was  headed  south  on  his  honeymoon,  equally  as  well 
pleased  with  his  new  acquisition.  This  interchange 
was  for  six  days  only ! 

On  December  19th  Kood-look-to,  an  old  friend  of  the 
1908  expedition,  arrived  from  his  igloo,  250  miles  away, 
to  pay  his  respects  to  the  newly  arrived  visitors.  He 
had  learned  from  the  Eskimos  that  I  had  tried  to  reach 
him  with  the  ship  in  August,  so  he  harnessed  his  dogs 
and  started  for  Etah  at  once.  I  was  glad  to  see  this 
companion  of  my  trip  of  1908  to  the  most  northern 
point  of  land  in  the  worid.  He  also  accompanied  me 
on  my  visit  to  Fort  Conger  in  June  of  that  year.  I  re- 
member well  how  he  stalked  about  the  grounds  in  sol- 
dier's uniform  and  hand-bag!  He  found  a  bronze  pro- 
peller, suspended  it  from  a  tripod,  and  banged  it  with 
a  rock,  awaking  the  echoes  of  the  hills  a  dozen  times 
a  day.  Wondering  what  he  was  up  to  one  morning,  I 
peeped  into  his  tent,  where  was  revealed  to  my  astonished 
eyes  a  toy  sledge  drawn  by  three  lemming  and  moving 
rapidly  across  the  floor!  How  he  laughed  to  see  Jack, 
our  sailor  from  the  S.S.  Roosevelt,  from  behind  the  corner 
of  old  Fort  Conger,  wriggling  along  cautiously  on<«^his 
belly  through  the  snow  for  fifty  yards,  to  shoot  a  dead 
duck  comfortably  seated  upon  an  ice-cake — one  we  had 
placed  there  while  Jack  was  asleep.  Kood-look-to  had 
much  to  tell  me,  but  the  chief  item  of  interest  was 
that  he  had  found  a  meteorite  near  his  igloo  as  large 


THE    BRIGHT,    SNAPPY    FACE    OF    AX    ESKIMO    CHILD 


1913]  OUR  FIRST  WINTER  41 

as  our  cooking-stove!    He  had  promised  this  to  Ras- 
mussen  for  the  Danish  government. 

At  noon  of  the  21st,  the  shortest  and  darkest  day  of 
the  year,  we  could  easily  detect  a  faint  glow  of  light 
in  the  south.  The  true  darkness  of  night  is  the  result 
of  a  complete  disappearance  of  all  traces  of  twilight, 
which  occurs  when  the  sun  reaches  a  point  of  eighteen 
degrees  below  the  horizon.  Our  latitude  was  78°  20', 
therefore  the  sun  at  this  time  was  only  about  twelve 
degrees  below  the  horizon. 

On  Christmas  Day  we — including  Tanquary  and  Jot, 
back  from  the  south — sat  down  to  a  glorious  dinner 
especially  prepared  and  packed  in  New  York  by  Presi- 
dent Osborn  of  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History.     The  menu: 

Cocktails 
Mock-turtle  soup  , 

Roast  turkey,  cranberry  sauce 

Green  corn  on  the  cob 
Plum  pudding,  brandy  sauce 
Pineapple         Ginger 
Nuts  and  Raisins 
Coffee        Cigars 
Enrico   Caruso,  Melba,  Schumann-Heink,   Gogorza, 
Evan  Williams,  and  other  operatic  stars  were  each  in- 
troduced for  our  pleasure  through  the  kindness  of  the 
Victrola  Company. 

In  the  evening,  each  one  of  our  sixty-one  Eskimo 
visitors  received  a  portion  of  one  of  three  large,  delicious 
fruit  cakes  presented  to  me  by  my  good  friend,  M.  J. 
Look,  of  Kingston,  New  York,  and  each  one  exclaimed, 
'* Ma-much-to-suahr  ("My,  but  that  tastes  good!") 
Hundreds  of  presents  sent  by  my  friends  to  these  far- 


42       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Jan. 

away  people  were  stacked  upon  the  table.  Never  be- 
fore had  they  had  such  a  night.  It  will  be  a  long-re- 
membered Christmas  for  them  all. 

The  iiew  year  of  1914  was  ushered  into  Borup  Lodge 
with  a  snap  and  a  bang  and  a  yell  from  our  excited 
visitors.  Three  bunches  of  firecrackers  were  placed  be- 
neath a  large  inverted  pan  upon  our  center-table.  The 
match  was  applied  and  the  fun  began,  to  be  continued 
a  few  minutes  later  in  front  of  the  house,  when  all  were 
supplied  with  firecrackers  and  slow  matches!  What  a 
time  they  had!  And  what  startling  tricks  they  tried 
to  play  upon  one  another!  Reluctantly  and  drowsily 
we  went  to  our  bunks  at  three  in  the  morning,  asking 
ourselves  the  question,  "What  has  the  new  year  in 
store  for  us?" 

On  the  3d,  Ekblaw,  our  geologist,  departed  for  the 
south  to  examine,  at  the  request  of  Rasmussen,  the 
meteorite  Kood-look-to  had  found  below  Cape  York. 
This  is  undoubtedly  one  of  the  great  shower  of  stones 
which  fell  in  that  vicinity  centuries  ago.  Peary  secured 
three  of  these  meteorites  in  1896-97  and  they  are  now 
on  exhibition  at  the  American  Museum  of  Natural 
History  in  New  York  City. 

On  the  4th  I  left  for  a  little  run  with  my  dogs  to  the 
village  of  Nerky,  forty-five  miles  away.  But  my  return 
on  the  8th  was  not  without  an  exciting  incident.  Cape 
AJexander  is  held  in  the  icy  embrace  of  the  Crystal 
Palace  Glacier,  one  arm  of  which  dips  into  the  sea  to 
the  north  of  the  cape,  and  the  other  to  the  south. 
Sledges  proceeding  south  from  Etah  never  go  around 
the  cape,  but  cut  off  at  least  six  miles  by  crossing  this 
glacier,  where  the  evil  spirits  certainly  dwell  if  they 
dwell  anywhere.    The  thrills  experienced  there  during 


1914]  OUR  FIRST  WINTER  43 

the  four  years !  It  is  a  common  and  expected  occurrence 
to  go  from  a  star-studded  sky,  a  big  full  moon,  and  the 
weird  stillness  of  the  Arctic  night,  into  a  raging  wind 
and  a  blinding,  choking  drift — conditions  which  often 
compel  one  to  bury  his  tingling  face  deep  in  the  furs 
topping  the  load  and  trust  to  the  dogs  for  guidance. 
My  first  trip  nearly  cost  me  my  life.  Over-confident  in 
my  knowledge  of  Arctic  sledge-work,  I  was  leading  my 
two  Eskimos.  As  I  reached  the  very  summit  I  snapped 
out  my  long  whip  and  yelled  to  the  dogs  for  more  speed. 
I  got  it!  I  thoroughly  enjoyed  that  rush  of  air  and  the 
leap  and  bound  of  the  sledge  plunging  down  into  the 
darkness,  blissfully  ignorant  of  the  ice  wall  at  the  end 
of  the  trail  and  the  forty-foot  drop  into  the  slush- 
covered  sea;  then  suddenly  the  dark  surface  flashed  up 
before  me.  Rush  of  wind,  crunch  of  sledge,  and  yelps 
of  dogs  all  seemed  to  mock  my  best  efforts  of  whip  and 
voice.  On  the  very  brink  the  team  shot  to  the  left 
up  the  snow-covered  talus  and  so  quickly  that  I  was 
nearly  snapped  off  into  space.  How  the  dogs  laughed, 
wagged  their  tails,  and  rubbed  their  fine  heads  against 
my  bearskin  pants!  The  curses  hurled  at  them  a  few 
seconds  before  because  of  their  stupidity  for  rushing 
blindly  into  death  gave  way  to  words  of  endearment 
and  appreciative  stroking  of  their  intelligent  heads  and 
lithe  bodies. 

In  my  five  years*  work  among  these  dogs  I  have  failed 
to  find  the  species  described  by  writers  as  "treacher- 
ous" or  "vicious'*  or  "ugly  brutes.**  On  the  contrary, 
the  full-blooded  Eskimo  dog  is  one  of  the  most  affection- 
a  e  in  the  world.  A  hundred  or  more  were  often  about 
our  door.  My  men  passed  in  and  out  among  them  with- 
out the  least  fear.     Two  hundred  and  fifty  were  berthed 


44        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

on  the  deck  of  the  Roosevelt.  To  walk  for*ard  it  was 
often  necessary  to  push  them  aside  with  the  knees.  Not 
a  man  was  ever  bitten.  No  man,  woman,  or  child  in  the 
far  North  has  ever  been  attacked,  and  not  more  than 
three  or  four  in  the  whole  tribe  have  ever  been  bitten. 

These  dogs  are  supposed  to  be  the  direct  descendants 
of  the  northern  gray  or  white  wolf,  which  they  greatly 
resemble,  with  the  exception  of  the  tightly  curled  tail. 
They  are  of  various  colors — ^black,  white,  brown,  brindle, 
and  gray — and  they  weigh  from  sixty  to  one  hundred 
pounds.  A  team  consists  of  from  eight  to  twelve,  each 
attached  to  the  sledge  by  a  sixteen-foot  rawhide  trace. 
The  advantages  of  this  arrangement  are  obvious. 
Seated  on  the  sledge  with  a  twenty-five-foot  whip,  one 
can  reach  out  and  touch  the  back  of  every  dog,  thereby 
keeping  him  in  his  place  and  exerting  him  to  keep  his 
trace  tight.  The  disadvantages  are  the  indirect  pull  of 
the  dogs  at  the  tips  of  the  fan  and  the  inevitable  braid- 
ing of  the  traces  into  a  rope  as  large  as  one's  arm,  the 
untangling  of  which  at  low  temperature  necessitates 
hours  and  hours  of  extreme  discomfort. 

Eighty  pounds  to  a  dog  is  a  good  load  for  the  average 
sledging  surface  encountered  on  a  long  spring  trip.  The 
strength  of  the  driver  is  to  be  equally  considered  with 
that  of  the  dogs.  Very  often — a  dozen  times  a  day — 
one  is  called  upon  to  wrestle  with  his  sledge  to  save  it 
from  destruction.  The  load  must  be  lifted  bodily  again 
and  again  in  endeavoring  to  extricate  the  sledge  from 
a  troublesome  crack  in  the  ice  or  from  the  depths  of  a 
deep  hole;  while  the  dogs  are  wagging  their  tails  or 
sitting  on  their  haunches,  much  interested  in  the  whole 
proceeding.  Given  the  smooth,  hard  surface  of  a  fiord, 
and  my  ten  dogs  could  easily  pull  two  thousand  pounds. 


191'1  OUR  FIRST  WINTER  45 

But  at  the  first  obstruction,  such  as  rough  ice,  the 
sledge  would  go  to  pieces;  and  if  a  hill  or  glacier  was  to 
be  negotiated,  then  it  would  be  necessary  to  unload  and 
carry  the  cargo  to  the  top  piece  by  piece.  Therefore, 
the  question  as  to  how  much  dogs  can  pull  is  a  diflBcult 
one  to  answer,  depending  upon  the  qualities  of  the 
sledge,  upon  the  distance  to  be  traveled,  upon  the 
strength  of  the  driver,  upon  the  strength  of  the  dogs, 
and  again  and  always  upon  the  sledging  surf  ace. 

On  the  1914  trip  my  ten  dogs  were  pulling,  upon 
leaving  home,  625  pounds;  on  the  1917  trip  they  were 
handling  850. 

But  to  get  back  to  the  glacier.  On  our  return,  in 
company  with  many  visiting  sledges,  the  descending 
northern  slope  was  taken  with  the  same  speed,  but  with 
the  comforting  thought  that  the  end  was  a  soft  snow- 
bank. When  half-way  down  I  looked  back  over  my 
shoulder  at  Noo-ka-ping-wa's  leaping  team,  and,  to  my 
horror,  discovered  We-we,  his  wife,  clinging  alone  to 
the  swaying  load  of  bags  and  skins!  Heavens!  And 
she  was  to  become  a  mother  within  a  few  days!  What 
was  he  trying  to  do.'^  Kill  her.^^  Rolling  from  the 
sledge,  I  turned  and  ran  back  up  the  slope,  hoping  to 
check  the  team  with  the  whip.  The  dogs  swerved  down 
into  the  gully  between  the  glacier  and  the  cliff.  A 
plunge,  a  leap  of  the  sledge,  a  shower  of  sparks,  and 
then  all  was  still.  An  arm  protruded  from  beneath  the 
confused  mass.  As  I  lifted  the  sledge  my  gravest  fears 
were  quickly  dispelled  by  a  smothered  laugh.  She 
calmly  informed  me  that  she  had  had  a  very  fast  ride. 
My  conclusion  was  that  if  her  man  wanted  to  kill  her 
he  must  take  an  ax  and  catch  her  asleep! 


IV 

IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND 

THERE  were  no  eight-hour  laws  at  Borup  Lodge  for 
the  month  of  January,  1914;  we  were  a  busy 
munition-factory,  working  long  overtime  in  preparation 
for  the  struggle  to  come.  Sledges,  stanch  and  strong, 
constructed  of  the  best  of  oak,  and  lashed  with  the  best 
of  rawhide,  issued  one  by  one  from  the  doors  of  the  big 
workroom.  As  children  are  delighted  with  toys,  so 
were  the  Eskimos  as  they  gathered  around  these  new 
productions,  admiring  the  apparent  strength,  the  grace- 
ful bows,  and  the  raking  upstanders.  The  hum  of  the 
blue-flame  field-stove  was  almost  incessant  as  the  boys 
continually  experimented  and  perfected  the  equipment 
upon  which  their  comfort  and  health  were  to  depend. 

During  the  extremely  low  temperatures  of  February 
boiling-hot  tea  is  a  life-saver.  Two  other  things  only 
do  we  now  consider  necessary — ^biscuit  and  pemmican. 
And  upon  these  three  articles  of  food  a  man  can  do 
the  hardest  kind  of  physical  work  and  remain  per- 
fectly well.  Each  of  our  two  meals  a  day  consisted  of 
half  a  pound  of  biscuit  and  half  a  pound  of  pemmican. 
Pemmican  is  a  Cree  word,  a  term  applied  to  a  highly 
concentrated  and  nutritious  food,  consisting  principally 
of  two  ingredients,  dried  meat  and  suet;  but  white  men 


1914]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  47 

and  various  tribes  in  Africa  have  added  vegetables, 
oatmeal,  raisins,  currants,  sugar,  wild  cherries,  and  even 
honey.  Amundsen  on  his  South  Pole  trip  used  a  pemmi- 
can  made  of  dried  fish  and  lard. 

Certain  tribes  of  Hudson  Bay  know  it  under  the  name 
**thewhagon'*  and  others  call  it  "achees."  In  drying 
meat  loses  three-fourths  of  its  moisture,  yet  retains  all 
of  its  nutritive  properties.  As  a  result  it  becomes  an 
extremely  valuable  food  for  the  explorer,  who  is  often 
compelled  to  carry  food  for  a  thousand  miles  or  more 
and  is  forever  confronted  by  that  problem,  "How  can 
I  lighten  my  load.^^" 

In  general,  it  can  be  said  that  pemmican  is  not  pala- 
table and  not  easily  digested,  but  that  made  for  the 
Crocker  Land  Expedition  was  delicious  and  satisfying. 
Put  up  in  eight-pound  tins  for  the  dogs  and  six-pound 
for  the  men,  it  was  easily  handled  for  transportation. 
With  a  clip  of  the  ax  the  frozen  block  was  readily  di- 
vided for  consumption  at  the  end  of  the  march.  And 
every  crumb  was  picked  and  lapped  from  the  snow! 

Each  man  was  clothed  in  the  conventional  dress  of 
the  Smith  Sound  Eskimo — caribou-skin  coat,  bearskin 
pants,  seal,  caribou,  and  bearskin  boots,  and  hareskin 
stockings.  For  the  last  we  substituted  sheepskin,  sac- 
rificing but  little  warmth  for  a  tremendous  increase  in 
durability.  Boots  made  of  the  skin  of  the  forelegs  of 
a  polar  bear,  with  a  sole  of  the  bearded,  or  thong,  seal, 
are  undeniably  the  warmest  product  of  the  northerfa 
Eskimo  shoemaker. 

At  moderately  low  temperatures,  twenty  and  thirty 
below,  a  boot  of  the  forelegs  of  the  caribou  is  very  satis- 
factory. The  sealskin  boot,  called  the  kamik,  is  the 
boot  in  general  use  among  the  Eskimos  of  Smith  Sound. 


48        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

The  sole  of  all  the  boots  is  made  from  the  extremely 
tough  skin  of  the  bearded  seal  (Erignathus  harhatus). 

Beneath  the  fur.  clothing  we  wore  a  light  suit  of 
woolen  to  prevent  chafing  and  to  absorb  perspiration. 
If  one  is  clothed  in  this  manner  and  is  dry,  he  can  lie 
in  the  snow  and  sleep  in  perfect  comfort  at  fifty  and 
sixty  below  zero.  I  believe  Peary  was  the  first  Arctic 
explorer  to  attempt  work  during  the  extremely  low 
temperature  of  February  and  March  without  a  sleeping- 
bag.  We  adopted  the  Peary  method  on  many  of  our 
journeys.  We  contracted  slightly  the  fur-bordered 
opening  of  the  hood;  bound  the  bottom  of  our  caribou- 
skin  coats  tightly  between  our  legs;  withdrew  our  arms 
and  placed  them  upon  the  warm  body;  tucked  the 
ever-to-be-desired  mittens  into  the  empty  sleeves;  and 
then,  with  a  hunch  of  the  shoulder,  placed  the  sleeve 
over  the  face  to  protect  it  from  freezing. 

Sleeping  in  this  manner,  one  is  ever  ready  for  an 
emergency  call,  such  as  the  inevitable  rush  of  one's 
dogs,  which  frequently  break  the  fastenings;  the  visit 
of  a  polar  bear;  or  the  not  remote  possibility  of  the 
cracking  of  the  sea  ice,  resulting  in  a  slowly  widening 
fissure  beneath  the  bed.  The  last  contingency  may  have 
been  the  cause  of  the  loss  of  Captain  Cagni's  first  sup- 
porting party,  which  was  returning  under  the  command 
of  Lieutenant  Querini  from  a  point  of  eighty-eight  miles 
offshore.  Not  a  trace  of  the  three  men  or  their  equip- 
ment was  ever  found.  -^^ 

The  adage  of  the  woolen-clothed  explorer  of  a  half 
a  century  ago,  "To  sleep  means  death,"  has  lost  its 
meaning.  It  would  be  absolutely  impossible  for  a  man 
clothed  as  we  were  to  freeze  to  death. 

We  tested  the  strength  and  fitness  of  every  item  of 


NO  PLATES  OR  FORKS  IN  THE  NORTH.      THE  MEAT  IS 
MEASURED    IN  THE   MOUTH    AND   CUT   AT   THE   LIPS 


■  1    1,  iM 

/ 

.''•^r^ ' ' 

W^t^^B                       W  K.^ V 

i|^ 

^n 

'J 

!iF 

NARWHAL.      THE   RAW   SKIN   IS    PRIZED    AS   A    DELICACY 

From  the  thread  meat  of  the  back  the  Eskimo  women  obtain  sinew  for  sewing. 


19141  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  49 

our  equipment  again  and  again.  The  smallest  detail 
received  as  much  consideration  as  the  largest.  "Look 
for  the  best,  but  be  prepared  for  the  worst,"  should  be 
the  motto  of  the  Arctic  man.  To  economize  in  weight, 
all  tins  of  pemmican  were  removed  from  the  cases,  to 
be  packed  in  long,  rectangular  canvas  bags  fitted  to  the 
bottom  of  our  sledges.  To  guard  against  a  possible 
breaking  up  of  the  sea  ice  around  Sunrise  Point,  four 
miles  to  the  west,  which  would  necessitate  an  overland 
trip,  all  loads  were  advanced  up  the  coast  to  Cape 
Ohlsen,  six  miles  distant.  The  increasing  brightness  of 
the  southern  skies  in  January  witnessed  our  preparations 
being  rushed  to  completion.  Ekblaw  arrived  home 
from  his  southern  trip  on  the  21st,  much  more  welcome 
than  the  news  which  he  brought  with  him — influenza 
and  mumps  had  arrived  from  Upernavik  with  the  mail 
a  few  weeks  before,  and  were  traveling  toward  Etah. 
His  swollen  face  a  few  days  later  and  the  vomiting  of 
Green  heralded  the  arrival  of  the  minor  plagues. 

But  I  would  permit  nothing  to  interfere  with  our 
plans.  If  the  dogs  could  walk,  then  we  would  start 
in  early  February.  As  the  Eskimos  arrived  day  by. 
day,  it  was  very  evident  that  many  of  the  men  were 
not  fit  for  the  work  ahead  of  them;  but  there  was  not 
a  word  of  complaint;  they  were  all  eager  for  the  ad- 
venture. 

There  are  distinct  advantages  to  be  gained  by  de- 
spatching the  various  divisions  of  a  large  expedition 
upon  successive  days.  With  the  departure  of  only 
three  or  four  sledges  at  a  time,  the  smallest  detail  per- 
taining to  equipment  is  attended  to.  Bustle  and  ex- 
citement are  avoided.  The  advance  party  picks  and 
breaks  the  trail,  and,  what  is  of  great  importance,  builds 


60        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

a  snow  house  which  is  occupied  by  every  succeeding, 
division,  thus  saving  time  and  labor. 

Green  and  Ah-pellah  got  away  on  February  7ch,  with 
their  two  divisions — seven  sledges — with  orders  to  take 
on  full  loads  of  500  pounds  each  at  Ka-mowitz,  fifteen 
miles  north  of  Etah,  cross  Smith  Sound,  and  proceed 
on  toward  the  musk-ox  grounds  of  Eureka  Sound  in 
Ellesmere  Land.  Here  we  were  to  rendezvous,  elimi- 
nate and  send  back  the  least  desirable  men  and  dogs, 
and  then  push  on  toward  the  Polar  Sea. 

The  departure  of  the  advance  party  was  signaled  the 
night  before  by  an  explosion  in  an  Eskimo  igloo.  Why 
it  was  not  attended  by  more  serious  results  is  hard  to 
understand.  Both  our  kerosene  and  gasolene  were 
packed  in  five-gallon  tins,  two  tins  in  a  case,  plainly 
marked,  and  well  understood  by  our  Eskimos.  Tau- 
ching-wa,  groping  in  the  dark  in  search  of  kerosene-oil, 
seized  by  mistake  five  gallons  of  gasolene.  With  his 
big  igloo  full  of  Eskimos,  he  cut  a  good-sized  hole  in  the 
top  of  the  can  with  his  knife  and  then  proceeded  to  fill 
a  large  burning  oil-heater!  WThen  what  happened  was 
over,  our  Eskimo  neighbors  were  considerably  bunched 
in  various  nooks  and  corners  of  their  primitive  home. 
The  various  parts  of  the  stove  were  never  assembled; 
nor,  in  fact,  of  Tau-ching-wa,  since  much  of  his  hair 
was  gone  and  practically  all  the  skin  from  his  face. 
Henceforth,  that  particular  brand  of  oil,  which  was  a 
bit  "too  quick,"  was  designated  as  the  *^  Tau-ching*wa 
ook-sook"  ("Tau-ching-wa  oil"). 

On  the  8th  Tanquary  left  with  his  division.  A  beau- 
tiful day,  seventeen  below  zero,  and  no  wind.  He  was 
followed  by  Ekblaw  and  his  Eskimos  on  the  9th,  and 
Hunt  and  his  division  on  the  10th.    With  the  latter 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  51 

went  badly  scorched  Tau-ching-wa,  looking  like  a  very 
demon  and  wearing  a  hideous-looking  cloth  mask,  be- 
neath which  I  knew  there  was  a  grin  in  spite  of  the 
forthcoming  sixty  below  zero  and  the  hardships  of  the 
trail. 

Stretching  out  before  me  to  the  westward  there  were 
now  nineteen  men  and  fifteen  sledges  drawn  by  165 
dogs,  headed  toward  that  great  unknown  sector  of  the 
Polar  Sea,  consisting  of  half  a  million  square  miles. 
The  distance  from  Etah  to  the  edge  of  this  white  spot 
by  air  line  is  483  statute  miles. 

A  war  of  wind  and  drifting  snow  on  the  11th  pre- 
cluded all  thought  of  my  division  leaving.  Excellent 
weather  on  the  12th  saw  Pee-a-wah-to,  Peary's  able 
assistant,  Mene,  the  Eskimo  boy  who  was  brought  to 
New  York  in  1896,  and  myself  galloping  away  with 
empty  sledges  to  join  the  main  party  far  in  advance. 
At  Sunrise  Point  we  found  the  ice-foot,  our  highway 
northward,  overflowed  by  an  exceptionally  high  tide, 
which,  upon  the  ebb,  would  result  in  a  wet,  salty  sur- 
face, injurious  to  the  feet  of  our  dogs,  and  a  freezing  of 
our  traces  into  iron  rods.  •!  concluded,  therefore,  that 
the  next  day,  although  it  was  Friday,  the  13th,  would 
be  far  preferable  for  the  beginning  of  our  long  journey. 
With  a  good  start,  good  going,  and  dogs  in  fine  condi- 
tion, we  made  Ka-mowitz  the  next  day  in  three  hours. 
Here  at  our  first  camp  the  thermometer  registered  forty- 
eight  below  zero,  Fahrenheit.  We  found  that  all  sup- 
plies had  been  moved  across  the  Sound  by  the  advance 
sledges,  enabling  us  the  next  day  to  run  across,  with 
very  light  loads,  in  six  hours  to  Payer  Harbor  at  Cape 
Sabine. 

Proclaimed  to  the  world  in  1850  by  Commander  E.  A. 


52        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

Inflefield,  R.N.,  the  first  explorer  to  enter  the  portals 
of  Smith  Sound,  this  cape  has  played  a  large  part  in 
Arctic  history,  witnessing  the  passing  of  the  ships  of 
three  nations  in  their  endeavors  to  penetrate  into  the 
unknown  and  plant  their  country's  flag  at  "Farthest 
North.'*  As  we  groped  with  numbed  fingers  in  the 
gathering  darkness  amid  the  rocks,  seeking  a  shelter 
for  the  dogs,  my  mind  was  filled  with  incidents  of  the 
past  connected  with  this  inhospitable  place.  We  readily 
found  Peary's  old  hut,  headquarters  of  his  1900  North 
Polar  Expedition.  Dark,  damp,  and  dirty;  no  floors, 
no  windows,  no  ceiling;  a  cracked  stove,  a  more  than 
cracked  stovepipe;  and  a  non-closing  door — it  was  not 
a  bit  inviting  for  a  night's  rest! 

We  were  glad  to  get  out  in  the  morning  on  the  smooth 
ice  of  Rice  Strait,  which  separates  Bedford  Pim  Island 
from  the  mainland.  The  cutting  wind,  which  seems  to 
be  ever  rushing  through  this  pass,  compelled  us  to  lie 
low  on  our  sledges  with  faces  buried  in  the  furs  to  pre- 
vent frost-bite.  In  a  few  hours  we  reached  the  big 
cache  at  Cape  Rutherford,  at  the  entrance  to  Buchanan 
Bay,  where  we  loaded  our  sledges  to  the  limit.  It  was 
now  push,  pull,  and  yell  at  the  dogs  as  they  plodded 
through  rough  ice  and  deep  snow  for  a  mile  or  two 
before  taking  the  ice-foot,  where  we  found  excellent 
going.  Pemmican-tins,  stained  snow,  and  hitching- 
holes  for  the  dogs  betrayed  where  the  advance  divisions 
had  slept  on  their  sledges,  finding  no  snow  suitable  for 
igloos.  It  looked  like  spending  a  night  out  of  doors 
at  fifty  below,  not  an  inviting  prospect  when  one  is 
covered  with  sweat.  We  shivered  in  the  lee  of  our  loads, 
pounded  our  toes,  and  impatiently  watched  our  blue- 
flame  stove  as  it  struggled  to  convert  ice  into  boiling 


UP  THE   FACE   OF   THE   BEITSTADT   GLACIER 

We  perspired  freely  at  — 50°  Fahrenheit. 


1914]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  53 

tea.  Fortified  with  this  beverage,  along  with  pemmi- 
can  and  biscuit,  we  were  soon  asleep  with  our  backs 
against  the  sledges. 

As  we  were  crossing  Alexandra  Fiord  we  received  our 
Grst  premonition  of  trouble.  We  passed  two  dead  dogs 
on  the  trail,  far  too  early  in  our  undertaking  for  such 
an  occurrence.  A  few  hours  later,  in  a  jog  in  the  ice- 
foot, we  came  upon  two  boxes  of  biscuit,  a  pair  of  snow- 
shoes,  and  a  note  from  Doctor  Hunt  stating  that  he  had 
slept  there  three  nights  with  a  sick  Eskimo  and  was 
leaving  that  morning.  There  was  still  no  snow  for  a 
snow  house,  so  we  endeavored  to  heat  up  a  few  cubic 
feet  of  air-space  by  building  a  fire  out  of  our  biscuit- 
boxes.  Placing  our  sleeping-bags  on  the  snow  near  the 
fire,  we  crawled  in  for  what  we  thought  would  be  a 
good  night's  sleep.  A  few  hours  later  I  awoke  choking 
for  breath,  and  discovered,  to  my  astonishment,  that 
my  bag  and  sheepskin  shirt  were  blazing  merrily.  I 
was  warm  at  last! 

A  few  hours'  traveling  in  the  morning  brought  us  in 
sight  of  the  doctor  and  his  Eskimo,  whose  face  was 
badly  swollen  with  the  mumps.  Although  he  was  unable 
to  walk,  he  was  game  and  wanted  to  go  on.  As  this 
Eskimo  was  one  of  my  best  men,  I  relieved  him  of  a 
large  part  of  his  load  and  ordered  him  to  stick  to  the 
sledge  until  he  felt  better.  Within  an  hour  we  came  up 
with  the  whole  party  encamped  in  snow  igloos  in  the 
middle  of  Hayes  Sound.  Some  had  influenza,  some 
had  the  mumps,  and  some  had  cold  feet  literally  and 
figuratively;  nearly  all  refused  to  go  on,  stating  that  the 
dogs  were  weak,  unable  to  pull  an  ordinary  load,  and 
would  probably  all  die  on  the  big  glacier  of  Ellesmere 
Land,  over  which  we  had  to  cross  in  order  to  reach  the 


54       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mar. 

head  of  Bay  Fiord,  seventy-five  miles  to  the  west.  All 
the  Eskimos  strongly  advised  returning  to  Etah,  feeding 
up  the  dogs  on  walrus  meat,  and  trying  it  again  later. 

Fortunately  it  was  so  early  in  the  year  that  we  could 
do  this  without  endangering  the  success  of  the  expedi- 
tion. I  decided  to  retreat  to  Etah  and  there  eliminate 
the  sick,  the  chicken-hearted,  and  the  older  and,  conse- 
quently, the  more  influential  Eskimos,  who  were  ap- 
parently very  much  concerned  over  the  fact  that  their 
dogs  might  die  and  thus  compel  them  to  walk  a  few 
hundred  miles.  In  a  discussion  of  this  nature  the 
younger  men  of  the  party  always  listen  respectfully  to 
the  opinion  of  their  elders  and  do  as  they  advise.  Young 
Eskimos  for  a  long  and  dangerous  trip  are  much  to  be 
preferred,  as  they  are  fond  of  adventure  and  willing 
to  take  a  chance,  while  the  older  men  wish  to  make 
certain  of  getting  home. 

I  placed  the  sick  in  charge  of  Hunt  and  Green,  with 
orders  to  stand  by  them  until  they  were  able  to  travel, 
and  we  started  back  the  next  day. with  light  sledges, 
leaving  our  supplies  and  equipment  in  cache  in  Hayes 
Sound.  The  dogs  of  my  division  were  in  fine  fettle, 
and  covered  the  ninety  miles  in  two  marches,  making 
Etah  on  the  second  day.  From  the  sixteen  Eskimos  I 
picked  out  seven  who  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  the  right 
stuff  and  who,  I  thought,  would  go  the  limit. 

From  the  four  members  of  the  expedition  who  were 
physically  fitted  for  field-work  I  selected  two,  Ekblaw 
and  Green;  the  former  for  his  knowledge  of  geology  and 
botany,  both  valuable  assets  in  the  discovery  of  new 
land;  and  the  latter  for  his  knowledge  of  practical 
astronomy,  in  which  subject  all  Annapolis  graduates 
are  exceedingly  well  trained.     I  felt  that  our  observa- 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  55 

tions  for  longitude,  latitude,  and  azimuth  could  not  be 
in  error  with  such  a  valuable  assistant.  These  two  men 
were  immediately  supplied  with  dog-teams,  and  prepara- 
tions were  made  for  a  second  attempt. 

Walrus  meat  is  without  question  the  very  best  of 
food  upon  which  to  condition  a  Smith  Sound  dog.  Our 
Eskimos  were  sent  to  Peteravik,  the  site  of  the  annual 
spring  encampment  of  the  natives,  with  orders  to  kill 
walrus  and  trade  for  as  much  meat  as  possible.  It  was 
very  hard  to  be  patient  as  I  watched  those  precious  days 
passing  away  one  by  one;  days  which  were  added  to  the 
other  end  of  our  journey — the  doubtful  end  because  of 
uncertain  ice  conditions  in  Smith  Sound.  The  dogs  were 
getting  stronger,  however,  and  would,  I  felt  sure,  make 
up  during  the  warmer  months  for  time  lost  now. 

On  March  10th  four  heavily  loaded  teams  sped  out 
of  Etah  with  instructions  to  the  drivers  to  proceed  to 
Cape  Sabine,  encamp,  thaw  out  the  frozen  walrus  meat 
on  their  sledges,  cut  it  up,  and  have  all  ready  for  our 
arrival  the  following  day.  Although  the  11th  was  not 
favorable  for  traveling — a  gale  from  the  north,  with 
drifting  snow  and  the  thermometer  at  thirty-one  below 
zero — we  felt  that  not  a  day  should  be  lost,  as  it  was  now 
late  in  the  year  for  a  1,200-mile  trip,  300  miles  of  which 
were  over  the  ice  of  the  Polar  Sea,  which  would  soon  be 
breaking  up.  That  night  frost-bitten  cheeks  attested 
to  the  severity  of  the  weather.  Another  run  across  the 
Sound  in  six  hours  brought  us  to  the  hut  at  Payer  Har- 
bor, where  the  Eskimos  greeted  us  with  the  cry,  "We 
have  killed  a  bear!"  This  was  good  news,  not  so  much 
because  we  needed  the  meat,  but  for  the  spirit  of  good- 
fellowship  which  always  follows  a  killing  when  on  the 
trail. 


56       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mar. 

In  two  marches  we  were  at  the  big  cache  at  the  en- 
trance to  Hayes  Sound,  where  we  found  everything  as 
we  had  left  it  some  weeks  before.  We  were  now  ready 
for  the  crossing  of  Ellesmere  Land.  The  regular  pass 
is  at  the  head  of  Flagler  Bay,  where,  as  shown  by  the 
tent  sites,  the  Innuits  (Eskimos)  have  crossed  for  cen- 
turies. But  my  Eskimos  advised  crossing  the  glacier 
at  the  head  of  Beitstadt  Fiord.  I  was  easily  persuaded 
to  adopt  this  plan,  as  I  knew  very  well  the  experiences 
of  Sverdrup  in  the  Flagler  Pass  in  1899.  If  he  were 
ever  called  ujwn  to  repeat  that  trip,  I  know  that  he 
would  fit  his  sledges  with  wheels!  Boulders  and  wind- 
swept stretches  of  bare  ground  are  daily  entries  in  his 
journal. 

We  proceeded  with  very  heavy  sledges  southwest 
into  Hayes  Sound  and  camped  at  the  mouth  of  Beit- 
stadt Fiord.  Noon  on  the  following  day  found  us  look- 
ing up  at  an  almost  vertical  wall  of  ice,  the  front  of  the 
Beitstadt  Glacier,  which  stretches  across  Ellesmere  Land 
from  sea  to  sea,  a  distance  of  more  than  fifty  miles. 
How  we  were  ever  to  get  up  there  I  did  not  know. 
Pee-a-wah-to  and  Kai-o-ta  walked  along  the  base  of 
the  glacier,  laughing  and  joking,  but  at  the  same  time 
critically  examining  every  square  foot  of  it.  In  the 
same  leisurely  manner  they  began  cutting  into  the  face 
of  it  with  their  hatchets  to  secure  a  good  grip  for  the 
hands  and  a  good  step  for  the  feet;  then  up  they  went 
until  they  stood  on  the  crest,  some  fifty  feet  above -^the 
ground.  It  was  now  getting  dark.  We  burrowed  for 
shelter  into  the  base  of  a  large  snowbank  at  the  foot  of 
the  glacier,  and  were  soon  resting  for  the  strenuous  work 
of  the  morrow. 

All  the  next  day  we  were  busy  carrying  our  supplies 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  57 

and  equipment  far  back  on  the  slope  of  the  ice.  E-took- 
a-shoo,  who  simply  loved  hard  work,  put  a  tump-line 
on  his  125-pound  sledge  and  started  up  the  ice  steps. 
I  said  to  myself,  "He  will  never  get  there.'*  But  he 
did,  smiling  and  sweating.  Two  of  the  other  men  at- 
tempted the  same  feat,  one  failing  and  one  succeeding. 
At  dusk  we  had  transferred  over  4,000  pounds  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  ice,  ready  for  loading  the  next  day.  That 
night  the  Eskimos  gathered  around  Pee-a-wah-to,  the 
only  man  who  had  gone  over  the  glacier,  to  learn  what 
it  was  like,  how  far  it  was,  if  there  were  any  more  such 
hard  work,  and  if  we  could  get  back  before  the  Sound 
broke  up  in  the  spring.  The  next  morning  Mene  Wal- 
lace, the  New  York  Eskimo,  decided  that  hard  work 
did  not  agree  with  him  and  that  he  wanted  to  go  home. 
I  knew  that  my  Eskimos  would  all  be  the  happier  for 
his  going,  and  so  I  did  not  try  to  dissuade  him.  As  he 
rounded  the  point,  about  an  hour  later,  Ekblaw  de- 
tected two  sledges  instead  of  one,  and  yelled  to  me, 
"Did  you  know  that  Tau-ching-wa  had  gone,  too.?"  At 
first  I  could  not  believe  it,  and  thought  he  was  upon 
the  glacier.  A  hurried  search  failed  to  find  him.  I 
learned  the  reason  for  his  hasty  departure  that  night 
when  supper  was  ended  and  gossip  and  tobacco  smoke 
were  equally  thick.  Tau-ching-wa  had  a  pretty  wife. 
Mene  certainly  thought  so;  therefore  he  decided  to 
return  to  Etah,  where  he  might  enjoy  her  company. 
Tau-ching-wa,  unsuspecting,  would  go  on  with  me  and  be 
absent  for  several  weeks.  After  Mene  had  gone,  one 
of  the  boys  whispered  into  Tau-ching-wa's  ea^-;  as  a  con- 
sequence, I  lost  Tau-ching-wa.  He  didn't  bother  to 
climb  the  glacier  and  state  his  reasons  for  going.  His 
wife  was  at  stake,  and  off  he  went. 


58       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

The  withdrawal  of  these  two  men  with  their  sixteen 
dogs  reduced  the  total  amount  of  food  which  could  be 
transported  over  the  glacier  to  a  dangerous  limit.  The 
success  of  the  trip  now  depended  upon  our  finding  game 
on  the  other  side.  Our  loads  were  now  so  heavy,  and 
the  gradient  so  steep  and  slippery,  that  it  was  only  by 
the  very  hardest  kind  of  effort  and  free  use  of  the 
whip  that  the  dogs  could  be  induced  to  move  at  all. 
The  slope  was  more  gentle  and  the  going  much  better 
after  we  had  surmounted  the  first  ice,  and  we  were  able 
to  reach  the  summit  in  a  little  over  two  days.  Here 
we  built  two  snow  igloos  at  an  altitude  of  4,750  feet, 
with  the  temperature  at  fifty  below  zero.  Although 
the  snow  was  hard  and  wind-swept,  showing  the  preva- 
lence of  violent  winds  here  in  the  mountains,  we  were 
fortunate  in  having  absolutely  calm  weather.  Green 
informed  me  in  the  evening  that  Ekblaw  had  frozen 
his  feet  and  asked  me  to  look  at  them.  I  found  the 
ball  of  one  foot  badly  blistered  and  the  big  toe  swollen 
and  waxy  in  appearance.  Naturally  Ekblaw  was  wor- 
ried, for  the  Eskimos  had  told  him  that  it  was  just  like 
"Peary-akswah's"  foot  some  years  ago,  when  he  lost 
all  his  toes.  I  hated  to  lose  such  a  good  man,  and  de- 
cided to  hold  on  to  him  as  long  as  I  could,  not  consider- 
ing his  frost-bite  nearly  so  serious  as  the  natives  would 
have  us  think.  They  are  mortally  afraid  of  having  their 
feet  frost-bitten,  nursing  them  as  tenderly  as  a  mother 
would  her  youngest  child.  I  have  seen  tough  old  Oo- 
tah,  mounted  on  top  of  his  load,  with  boot  off,  at  sixty 
below  zero,  holding  his  toes  in  his  warm  hand  and  with 
a  worried  look  on  his  face.  Frozen  cheeks,  nose,  or 
ears  are  of  little  concern;  one  can  stiU  go  on,  but  when 
a  man's  feet  are  frozen  he  is  through. 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  59 

We  felt,  as  we  packed  our  sledges  on  the  morning  of 
the  20tli,  that  our  troubles  were  over.  The  crest  of  the 
glacier  was  but  a  few  miles  beyond.  In  a  few  hours 
we  commanded  a  good  view  of  this  western  land,  with 
its  towering  snow-capped  peaks,  its  deep  valleys  and 
winding  glaciers,  and  far  to  the  west,  dimly  outlined  in 
the  haze,  we  coulji  make  out  the  smooth  ice  of  Eureka 
Sound.  Our  glacier  led  straight  on  into  the  west  down 
through  a  magnificent  range  of  hills  into  which  no  man 
had  ever  penetrated.  Reluctantly  we  left  this  long, 
white  path  for  a  valley  leading  to  the  northwest  and 
more  in  line  with  our  course  to  the  Polar  Sea. 

Our  Eskimos  were  determined  to  make  Bay  Fiord  in 
one  march,  so  we  toiled  on  for  sixteen  hours,  first  down 
into  what  appeared  to  be  the  old  bed  of  a  lake,  and 
then  making  the  mistake  of  turning  to  the  right  instead 
of  to  the  left,  which  led  us  along  the  sloping  side  of  a 
glacier  through  deep  snow,  concealing  crevasses  into 
which  our  dogs  fell  repeatedly,  warning  us  against  a 
similar  fate.  We  reached  the  face  of  the  glacier,  tired 
and  hungry,  but  although  we  searched  long  and  earnest- 
ly, we  failed  to  find  any  part  of  it  which  would  permit 
a  descent  without  risk  of  life.  Finally,  Pee-a-wah-to 
returned  with  the  encouraging  news  that  he  had  dis- 
covered an  old  river-bed  through  which  we  might  pos- 
sibly lower  everything  with  ropes. 

At  daylight  we  inspected  the  ravine  in  the  ice,  cut 
by  running  water  during  the  spring.  Fortunately  its 
bottom  was  covered  with  about  a  foot  of  compact  snow 
which  enabled  us  to  keep  our  footing  while  working 
with  the  dogs,  sledges,  and  ropes.  A  long  strong  rope 
made  from  the  heavy  skin  of  the  thong  seal  (Erignathus 
barbatus)  was  fastened  to  an  eye  cut  in  the  solid  blue 


60       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mah. 

ice.  We  lowered  everything  carefully  to  the  surface 
of  the  sea  ice  without  mishap.  One  sledge,  however,  ran 
amuck  and  buried  its  short  rounded  nose  deep  into  the 
debris  below  the  face  of  the  glacier.  But  it  was  not 
seriously  injured. 

After  we  had  traveled  a  few  miles  down  the  fiord  we 
found  the  snow  trampled  and  crisscrossed  in  all  direc- 
tions by  the  tracks  of  musk-oxen.  We  were  all  now  on 
the  alert,  the  dogs  with  heads  up,  sniflBng  the  air,  run- 
ning their  noses  deep  into  the  footprints  in  the  snow, 
the  men  scanning  the  slope  of  every  hill.  In  a  few 
minutes  we  reached  a  point  which  commanded  a  view 
of  the  whole  fiord,  and  here  Pee-a-wah-to  thought  it 
best  to  camp,  assuring  us  that  we  would  certainly  find 
musk-oxen  within  a  few  hours. 

In  the  morning  the  first  man  out  of  the  igloo  yelled: 
"Oo-ming- much -suit!**  ("Musk-oxen!").  There  they 
were!  five  black  dots  on  a  sloping  white  hillside  and 
strikingly  resembling  five  black  rocks.  A  strange 
anomaly!  A  black  animal  in  the  white  North  and  yet 
wonderfully  protected  by  its  color!  This  similarity  to 
boulders  is  heightened  considerably  by  the  presence  of 
the  whitish  spot  on  the  back.  The  musk-ox  grazes  in 
wind-swept  areas  which  consist  of  bare  ground,  patches 
of  snow,  and  boulders,  and  the  tops  of  the  latter  may 
be  lightly  sprinkled  with  snow.  We  have  often  halted 
our  dogs  and  scrutinized  with  powerful  binoculars  the 
dark  spots  on  such  a  field,  unable  to  discriminate  be- 
tween boulders  and  musk-oxen,  motion  being  the  only 
deciding  factor. 

As  these  rocks  slowly  changed  their  relative  positions, 
we  were  compelled  to  admit  that  they  must  be  alive. 
Arklio  and  Pee-a-wah-to  immediately  doubled  up  their 


1914]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  61 

dogs  for  speed,  hitching  them  to  one  sledge,  and  grabbed 
their  rifles.  The  other  Eskimos  at  once  set  off  in  dif- 
ferent directions  to  scour  the  hills.  The  team  made  its 
way  leisurely  across  the  fiord;  they  had  not  yet  sighted 
or  smelled  the  animals.  As  I  watched  through  the  field- 
glasses,  one  musk-ox  started  directly  up  the  almost 
vertical  slope,  immediately  followed  by  the  four  others 
and  two  more  which  we  had  not  seen.  It  was  hard 
to  believe  that  the  black  line  behind  them,  going  with 
such  incredible  speed,  could  be  our  dogs  pulling  some  six 
hundred  pounds.  They  were  now  a  band  of  wolves  with 
fresh  meat  in  sight,  and  nothing  could  stop  them;  sand, 
rocks,  boulders,  and  snow  seemed  to  be  taken  without 
effort.  A  wild  ride  behind  a  good  fast  team  of  dogs  in 
pursuit  of  a  bear  or  a  musk-ox  is  one  of  the  joys  of  this 
world,  and  certainly  compensates  for  much  of  the  dis- 
comfort of  Arctic  work.  As  the  dogs  stopped  at  the 
foot  of  the  talus,  we  could  see  the  three  men  slowly 
making  their  way  up  the  slope  to  get  within  rifle  range. 
Before  the  report  of  the  first  shot  reached  our  ears,  we 
saw  a  black  object  rolling  rapidly  down  the  hill,  indicating 
that  the  slaughter  had  begun.  Knowing  that  one  sledge 
could  not  possibly  bring  all  the  meat  to  camp,  Green 
and  I  harnessed  up  our  dogs  and  ran  over  to  where  we 
found  the  two  Eskimos  busily  skinning  and  cutting  up 
the  seven  musk-ox  they  had  killed. 

Plenty  of  meat  now  for  dogs  and  men  put  every  one 
in  good  spirits,  enabling  us  to  save  our  pemmican  for 
the  Polar  Sea.  I  had  repeatedly  been  assured  by  the 
Eskimos  that  it  would  be  possible  to  subsist  upon  the 
country  from  the  head  of  Bay  Fiord  to  Cape  Thomas 
Hubbard.  This  optimistic  view  of  things  I  could  not 
accept;  therefore  I  planned  to  use  pemmican  for  half  the 


62       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

distance,  hoping  to  secure  game  enough  for  the  other 
half.  As  I  viewed  the  large  pile  of  red  meat  around  our 
igloos,  I  felt  that  we  had  certainly  made  a  good  start. 

Now  that  our  loads  were  safely  across  Ellesmere  Land, 
my  supporting  party  was  no  longer  needed;  I  could  dis- 
pense with  at  least  two  of  the  sledges.  In  the  morning 
Ekblaw  and  Kai-o-ta  started  back  for  Etah.  With  them 
went  Green,  Noo-ka-ping-wa,  and  Arklio,  with  orders  to 
load  up  at  the  big  cache  in  Hayes  Sound  with  oil  and 
pemmican  and  rejoin  me  at  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard.  In 
the  mean  time  I  was  to  go  on  slowly,  laying  in  caches  of 
meat  on  the  trail  for  use  during  our  return  trip. 

As  we  swung  across  to  the  north  side  of  Bay  Fiord 
on  the  25th,  two  large  white  wolves  loped  along  behind 
us  just  out  of  range,  finally  disappearing  in  the  rough 
ice  in  the  middle  of  the  Sound.  At  the  end  of  this 
march  I  feared  that  the  Eskimos  were  altogether  too 
optimistic  when  they  declared  that  we  could  live  on  the 
country.  Two  days  now,  and  not  a  sign  of  a  musk-ox. 
Reluctantly  I  told  the  boys  to  feed  a  pound  of  pemmi- 
can to  each  dog.  Although  they  had  not  been  fed  for 
two  days,  they  had  quietly  lain  down  and  gone  to  sleep, 
g,s  was  their  custom  when  hitched  to  the  ice-foot;  not 
a  whine  or  a  bark  or  a  look  in  our  direction  indicated 
that  they  were  hungry.  What  keeps  an  Eskimo  dog 
alive  and  going  for  days  and  days  and  days  I  do  not 
know.  I  have  been  informed  by  the  Eskimos  that  they 
have  known  dogs  to  travel  eight  and  ten  days  without 
food.  Such  a  period  of  fasting  is  a  common  occurrence 
every  fall  when  on  the  annual  caribou-hunt  south  of  the 
Humboldt  Glacier  and  when  hunting  bears  south  of 
Cape  Isabella. 

The  deep  snows  on  the  northern  side  of  Bay  Fiord, 


19141         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  63 

which  ran  east  and  west,  were  an  indication  of  strong 
northerly  prevailing  winds  out  in  Eureka  Sound,  toward 
which  we  were  headed  and  which  extended  across  our 
course  at  right  angles.  Once  out  from  under  the  lee  of 
the  high  hills  and  facing  the  wind,  we  should  find  the 
ice  swept  clean  of  snow. 

The  next  morning  we  continued  on  through  heavy 
going  until  the  dogs  began  to  smell  seal-holes,  and  then 
there  was  a  rush  from  hole  to  hole  along  the  ice-foot. 
The  huge  footprints  of  a  polar  bear  and  a  bloody  track 
through  the  snow  were  evidence  that  the  "tiger  of  the 
North"  had  succeeded  in  capturing  a  seal.  The  dogs 
were  now  fairly  excited,  dashing  along  with  heads  and 
tails  up,  whining  and  yelping.  In  a  few  minutes  a  white 
wolf,  so  large  that  we  all  thought  it  was  a  bear,  bounded 
out  of  the  ice-foot  and  took  to  the  side-hill,  every  twenty 
yards  or  so  stopping  to  look  us  over  carefully,  wondering 
what  kind  of  strange  animals  we  were.  The  sledges 
fairly  leaped  through  the  rough  ice  of  the  tidal  crack, 
but  came  to  a  sudden  stop  in  the  grit  a  short  distance 
from  the  shore.  Pee-a-wah-to  seized  his  rifle,  ran  to 
the  crest  of  a  little  knoll,  dropped  to  one  knee,  and 
fired.  I  have  never  seen  a  better  shot.  The  animal  at 
the  time  was  going  at  full  speed  away  from  him  at  a 
distance  of  about  one  hundred  yards.  The  bullet  passed 
completely  up  through  his  body,  turned  him  over,  and 
left  him  a  crumpled  mass  without  a  quiver.  I  examined 
this  first  white  wolf  with  interest.  He  was  larger  than 
the  Eskimo  dog,  which  is  supposed  to  be  his  descendant, 
although  not  so  thick-set.  We  removed  the  skin  as  a 
specimen  for  the  American  Museum.  The  dogs  sniffed 
at  the  red  flesh  for  some  time,  but  finally  walked  away, 
recognizing  their  near  relative  from  the  smell. 


64       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

The  bear  tracks  continued  up  the  Sound,  and  the  dogs 
were  again  hot  on  the  trail.  Astride  the  sledges,  with 
rifles  across  our  legs,  we  closely  scanned  every  hummock 
of  ice,  every  crack  and  crevice.  At  last,  disappointed, 
we  were  forced  to  give  it  up,  and  pulled  in  toward  the 
ice-foot  to  find  suitable  snow  for  an  igloo.  The  dogs 
had  worked  long  and  well.  I  could  not  refuse  them; 
they  would  have  their  p>ound  of  pemmican,  anyway.  As 
we  sat  there  on  our  sledges,  too  lazy  or  too  tired  to  begin 
cutting  snow  blocks  for  a  house,  Pee-a-wah-to,  whose  little 
black  eyes  were  ever  roaming  over  the  hills,  uttered  an 
exclamation  of  surprise,  followed  by  a  long,  deep  "  Tak- 
koo!'*  ("Look!").  There,  right  above  our  heads,  sound 
asleep,  were  three  woolly  bodies.  Our  musk-oxen  had 
come  into  our  camp  and  were  patiently  waiting  for  us. 
The  two  Eskimo  boys  fairly  beamed,  repeating  over  and 
over  again:  "Well,  well!  Right  alongside  of  us!'* 
White  men  would  have  gone  up  at  once  and  made  sure 
of  their  game;  not  so  with  E-took-a-shoo  and  Pee-a- 
wah-to.  As  if  they  had  all  the  time  in  the  world  and 
meat  were  of  no  value,  they  deliberately  harnessed  their 
dogs,  just  as  deliberately  lit  their  pipes,  laughed,  joked, 
and  talked  of  things  a  hundred  miles  away.  You  can 
imagine  how  constantly  I  kept  my  eye  on  those  three 
black  balls  which  meant  so  much  to  me,  although  only 
meat  to  them.  With  food  we  could  do  anything  and 
everything;  without  it  we  would  be  compelled  to  go 
home,  and  home  did  not  have  any  attractions  for  ihe 
just  then. 

Finally,  the  snow  blocks  were  cut,  the  house  built, 
furs  inside,  and  the  stove  humming,  and  oflf  they  started, 
leading  one  dog  only — the  one  which  they  could  best 
afford  to  lose,  for  musk-ox  horns  are  sharp  and  inflict 


E-TOOK-A-SHOO 


NOO-KA-PING-WA 


AK-POOD-A-SHAH-O 


FOUR   OF  OUR   FAITHFUL   NATIVES    WHO    DESERVE   THE   CREDIT    FOR   OUR   TEN 
THOUSAND   MILES    OF   SLEDGE-WORK 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  65 

ugly  wounds.  Skirting  the  hill,  they  came  upon  the 
animals  from  the  rear,  thus  cutting  oflP  their  retreat. 
At  the  first  report  of  the  rifles  three  musk-oxen  were  out- 
lined against  the  sky,  then  four,  then  five!  There  was 
no  escape.     I  knew  they  were  ours. 

The  next  morning  we  drove  our  dogs  to  the  base  of 
the  cliff  over  which  the  Eskimos  had  rolled  the  bodies, 
and  there  we  had  the  comforting  satisfaction  of  seeing 
the  dogs  eat  to  repletion.  Half  the  day  was  consumed 
in  skinning  and  cutting  up  these  five  animals  and  sledg- 
ing the  meat  down  to  the  igloo;  therefore  we  decided 
to  spend  the  rest  of  it  in  drying  our  boots,  skeepskin 
stockings,  and  sleeping-bags. 

The  following  is  an  extract  from  my  diary: 

Saturday,  March  28ih.  Eighteenth  day. — L  perfect  day  and  per- 
fect going  enabled  us  to  cover  at  least  twenty-five  miles.  The  whole 
Sound  has  been  so  swept  by  strong  northerly  winds  that  the  smooth 
surface  of  the  new  ice  is  covered  with  an  inch  layer  of  hard  snow. 
Pee-a-wah-to's  old  rat-tail  dogs  can  smell  a  seal  a  mile  away;  they 
have  kept  us  on  the  jump  all  day.  About  five  miles  below  here, 
while  resting  our  dogs,  we  shot  eleven  hare,  giving  three  to  each 
team  and  keeping  two  for  our  supper. 

Sunday,  March  29th.  Nineteenth  day. — We  are  in  80°  north  lati- 
tude to-night,  having  covered  a  whole  degree  in  two  days.  Perfect 
sledging  all  day  long,  continuing  just  as  far  as  we  can  see.  Another 
large  white  wolf  is  added  to  our  game  list  to-day.  We  were  follow- 
ing the  tracks  of  a  large  bear  when  he  jumped  out  of  the  ice-foot. 
These  wolves  are  so  large  that  we  were  again  deceived,  judging  it  to 
be  a  bear.  My  dogs  leaped  ahead  at  the  sound  of  Pee-a-wah-to's 
rifle,  arriving  in  time  to  see  the  wolf  take  to  the  ice  and  start  for 
the  middle  of  the  Sound,  covered  with  blood.  Crawling  out  to  the 
front  of  the  sledge,  I  slipped  the  knot  which  held  the  whole  team, 
and  away  they  went  at  full  speed,  but  before  they  reached  him  Pee-a- 
wah-to  fired  again,  dropping  him  dead. 

On  the  way  across  to  Blaamanden  to-day  a  blue  fox  crossed  in 
front  of  our  teams.  Had  the  fox  been  going  our  way  we  should 
have  made  a  record  march,  but  as  it  was  he  had  our  ill-will  for 
some  hours  afterward.    To  stop  or  control  Eskimo  dogs  with  the 


66       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

tail  of  a  blue  fox  waving  in  their  faces  would  be  like  stopping  the 
world  from  going  around.  The  komatiks  (sledges)  fairly  leaped 
through  space.  Such  a  sudden  and  unexpected  rush  caught  us  all 
unawares;  pipes,  tobacco,  matches,  pieces  of  frozen  meat — every- 
thing not  tied  on  was  left  lying  along  the  trail.  The  fox  trotted 
along  slowly  at  first,  now  and  then  looking  back  over  his  shoulder, 
as  if  saying  to  himself,  "I  wonder  if  they  are  really  after  me?"  As 
the  dogs  approached,  he  quickened  his  pace  a  bit  as  if  to  tease  them; 
then,  to  show  them  that  he  could  run,  he  turned  into  a  bounding 
black  ball  which  quickly  faded  away  to  a  tiny  speck  in  the  dis- 
tance. The  dogs  slowed  down,  looked  foolish,  then  turned  their 
heads  to  us  as  if  to  ask,  "What  was  that?"  It  is  said  that  these 
foxes  can  catch  Arctic  hares.  If  so,  that  one  will  Uve  for  a  long 
time  yet! 


From  the  Fosheim  Peninsula  we  headed  across  Eureka 
Sound  for  Skraelingodden  on  the  morning  of  the  30th. 
A  heavy  mist  hanging  low  over  the  fiord,  in  combination 
with  a  light  northeast  wind,  gave  us  warning  of  an 
approaching  storm.  This  point  marked  the  end  of  our 
good  sledging  and  good  weather.  As  we  rounded 
Skraelingodden  our  hitherto  light  wind  freshened  to  a 
strong  breeze;  at  forty  below  zero  it  seemed  to  go 
right  through  us.  However,  plodding  through  ankle- 
deep  snow  all  the  way  to  Schei's  Island,  and  running 
ahead  of  the  dogs  to  increase  our  speed,  soon  warmed 
us  up.  It  was  drifting  and  blowing  so  hard  as  we 
approached  the  island  that  we  could  scarcely  make  out 
its  outline.  Unable  to  find  snow  suitable  for  building 
an  igloo,  we  continued  on  toward  the  south,  looking 
for  shelter.  After  traveling  a  short  distance,  we  dis- 
covered that  there  was  land  on  both  sides  of  us;  we 
had  either  entered  an  inlet  and  were  in  a  cul-de-sac  or 
there  were  low-lying  islands  off  the  southern  point  of 
the  island  which  the  map  of  Sverdrup  did  not  show. 
The  shelving  shore  to  the  north  offered  no  shelter  what- 


19141         EST  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  67 

ever,  and  shelter  we  must  have.  Our  clothes  were 
driven  completely  full  of  snow. 

At  last,  to  our  relief,  E-took-a-shoo  prodded  with  his 
whip-stock  down  into  the  snow  and  announced  it  suit- 
able for  building  purposes.  Our  igloo  up,  the  next 
thought  was  for  our  dogs,  which  were  now  nearly  buried 
in  the  white  drift.  A  lee  was  lacking  in  this  wind-swept 
area;  therefore  we  constructed  a  semicircular  wind- 
break from  snow  blocks,  and  the  tired  dogs  huddled 
close  up  to  it  and  were  soon  sound  asleep.  We  pounded 
the  snow  out  of  our  bearskin  pants  and  out  of  our  sheep- 
skin coats  with  the  snow-beater  as  well  as  we  could 
under  the  circumstances.  Once  inside  of  an  igloo,  the 
door  tightly  closed  with  a  snow  block  and  the  stove 
humming,  there  is  a  feeling  of  perfect  contentment 
which  comes  to  a  man  after  a  long  day's  march.  We 
decided  to  remain  here  for  a  few  days.  Our  dogs  must 
have  fresh  meat,  and  the  dogs  of  our  supporting  party, 
which  was  doing  its  best  to  catch  us,  were  depending 
upon  it. 

At  noon  the  next  day  there  was  every  promise  of 
clear  weather.  The  boys  harnessed  their  dogs  and  were 
off  to  the  westward  to  look  for  a  passage  through  the 
island  and  for  musk-ox  tracks.  At  midnight  they  were 
back.  Sure  of  their  success,  I  yelled  out  through  the 
peep-hole  in  the  front  of  the  igloo,  "How  many?" 
" Ah-meg-you-lock-suit!'*  was  the  immediate  reply — "a 
great  many."  But  hoV  many  I  did  not  know  until 
E-took-a-shoo,  who  could  not  count  more  than  twenty, 
indicated  by  holding  up  his  fingers  that  they  had  killed 
thirty -five!  Like  savages  they  had  slaughtered  the 
whole  herd  for  the  pure  love  of  killing,  although  they 
knew  that  we  could  not  possibly  use  so  many. 


68       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [April 

On  their  sledges  were  the  quarters  of  a  musk-ox  for 
my  dogs,  who  were  now  sitting  up  and  wondering  what 
had  happened.  Their  old  friends  in  the  other  teams 
could  hardly  be  recognized;  they  were  so  distended 
that  they  could  barely  get  into  camp.  In  through  the 
door  of  the  igloo  came  hearts,  tongues,  livers,  and  juicy 
tenderloins.     What  a  feast! 

I  thought  we  had  better  move  while  we  could.  I 
ordered  the  men  to  pack  up  their  sledges  and  drive  over 
to  the  battle-field.  After  we  had  gone  a  short  distance, 
a  yell  from  Pee-a-wah-to  turned  our  attention  toward 
the  south.  Could  we  believe  our  eyes?  It  was  like 
a  picture  from  one  of  the  old  books  on  travel  in  Siberia. 
Twelve  white  wolves  were  leaping  over  the  snow  directly 
at  us.  Fiction  would  have  us  now  fighting  for  our  lives, 
knives  between  teeth  and  rifles  constantly  going.  On 
the  contrary,  we  prayed  that  they  would  not  stop,  but 
keep  coming  on.  Undoubtedly  they  would  have  done 
so  had  we  been  able  to  control  our  dogs,  who  were  now 
wild  with  excitement,  whining,  yelping,  and  straining 
on  the  traces.  We  shouted  and  threatened,  and  lashed 
with  the  whip,  at  the  same  time  holding  back  with  all 
our  strength  on  the  upstanders  of  the  sledge.  The 
leader  of  the  band  stopped,  surveyed  us  critically  for 
an  instant,  and  wheeled  around,  followed  by  the  others. 
By  the  time  that  we  could  tear  the  covers  from  the  rifles 
they  were  out  of  range. 

I  have  no  compunction  whatever  in  shooting  at  these 
sneaking  cowards  of  the  animal  world.  Axel  Heiberg 
Land  is  infested  with  them,  their  tracks  being  found 
intermingling  with  those  of  the  musk-ox  and  white 
caribou.  A  mother  and  her  young  are  surrounded,  wor- 
ried to  death,  and  torn  into  pieces.     During  Sverdrup's 


CONSTRUCTING   A   SNOW   HOUSE 

In  about  one  hour  our  home  for  the  night,  consisting  of  some  fifty  blocks,  will  be  ready  for  occupancy. 


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•t        . 


OUR   CAMP   AT   CAPE   ISABELLA,    MAY,    1917 
Note  our  fur  coats  on  top  of  igloo  out  of  reach  of  stray  dogs. 


1914]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  69 

expedition  the  wolves  came  into  camp,  attacked  and 
killed  some  of  the  dogs,  and  later,  on  the  trail,  even 
attacked  one  of  the  men  who  had  no  other  weapon 
to  defend  himself  with  than  a  ski.  No  animal  in  the 
North  is  so  enduring,  none  has  such  a  wide  range,  and 
none  passes  an  easier  existence  than  the  Arctic  wolf. 
Their  food  is  musk-oxen,  caribou,  Arctic  hare,  lemmings, 
and  possibly  foxes.  There  is  also  every  evidence  to  be- 
lieve that  wolves  prey  upon  seals  along  the  ice-foot. 

Proceeding  for  about  half  an  hour,  we  reached  a  well- 
sheltered  spot  with  southern  exposure  near  the  slain 
musk-oxen.  Here  the  two  boys  constructed  a  beautiful 
igloo,  with  high-bed  platform,  gently  sloping  walls,  and 
an  almost  flat  roof,  the  sixty  blocks  interlocking  in  a 
rather  artistic  design.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  see  an  Eskimo 
cut  and  handle  snow.  One  cannot  but  admire  the  skill 
and  dexterity  with  which  he  cuts  it  on  the  surface, 
breaks  it  out  with  his  toe,  lays  it  up  on  the  wall,  bevels 
the  edges,  and  thumps  it  into  place  with  his  hand.  I 
wonder  if  there  are  any  other  people  in  the  world  who 
attempt  to  build  an  arch  or  dome  without  support. 
Starting  from  the  ground  in  a  spiral  from  right  to  left, 
the  blocks  mount  higher  and  higher,  ever  assuming  a 
more  horizontal  position,  until  the  last  two  or  three 
appear  to  hang  in  the  air,  the  last  block  locking  the 
whole  structure.  This  work  can  be  done  by  two  good 
men  in  about  an  hour. 

Entering  a  newly  constructed  igloo  seems  like  a 
vision  of  fairy-land,  the  light  filtering  through  the  snow 
a  beautiful  ethereal  blue;  everything — the  bed,  the  two 
side  platforms,  the  wall — absolutely  spotless.  At  low 
temperatures  such  a  retreat  is  so  far  superior  to  a  tent 
as  to  cause  one  to  regret  exceedingly  that  the  brave 


•ro      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [April 

fellows  of  old,  who  struggled  over  frozen  tents  with 
frozen  fingers,  could  not  have  availed  themselves  of  the 
services  of  these  architects  of  the  North.  During  a 
gale,  the  incessant  banging  and  slatting  of  the  walls  of 
a  tent  precludes  all  conversation  and  interferes  seriously 
with  much-needed  rest.  If  snow  is  drifting,  the  sides 
collapse  under  the  accimiulated  weight  to  such  a  de- 
gree that  it  is  hardly  possible  for  one  man  to  sit  upright 
in  the  center  of  the  tent,  and  the  remainder  of  the 
party  are  compelled  to  lie  in  their  bags.  Once  in  a 
snow  house,  with  the  door  closed,  it  is  as  still  as  death, 
snow  being  an  excellent  non-conductor,  while  drifting 
snows  without  only  add  to  the  warmth  and  security. 

Our  four  days  at  Schei's  Island  stand  out  as  one  of 
the  bright  spots  of  our  trip — a  large,  well-warmed,  and 
well-lighted  igloo,  plenty  of  food,  and  a  wealth  of  fresh 
meat  for  the  dogs.  Two  Eskimo  lamps,  made  of  oil- 
tins,  canvas,  and  musk-ox  fat,  burned  night  and  day, 
drying  mittens,  boots,  and  stockings.  During  low  tem- 
peratures too  much  care  cannot  be  exercised  in  keeping 
one's  clothes  dry.  Experience  is  the  great  teacher; 
and  he  who  follows  its  precepts  will  return  with  fingers 
and  toes.  How  we  suffered  on  that  Peary  trip!  More 
in  one  month  than  I  did  the  last  four  years  of  Arctic 
work!    Reason — inexperience. 

For  the  man  in  furs  there  is  one  maxim  which  must 
be  rigidly  adhered  to,  anomalous  as  it  may  seem:  Do 
not  permit  the  body  to  be  overheated  at  fifty,  sixty,  or 
seventy  below  zero.  It  is  heat  that  kills  in  the  Arctic, 
not  cold.  My  most  miserable  hours  in  the  far  North 
have  been  not  when  encountering  low  temperatures  or 
facing  a  cutting  drift,  but  in  the  shelter  of  a  tight  snow 
house  after  the  day*s  work  was  ended,   when   with 


19141  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  71 

shivering  body  and  chattering  teeth  I  attempted  sleep 
with  underclothes  reeking  wet  from  perspiration. 

And  a  second  maxim :  Use  the  snow-beater  vigorously 
and  thoroughly.  If  driven  snow  is  permitted  to  remain 
in  the  fur  that  snow  will  melt.  Result — ^a  heavy,  wet, 
and  then  a  frozen  garment. 

Leaving  instructions  in  this  igloo  for  Green  to  feed 
his  dogs,  hold  to  his  loads,  and  come  on  as  quickly  as 
possible,  we  started  on  for  Hvitbei^et  ("White  Moun- 
tain). As  we  swung  around  the  corner  of  the  island,  its 
high,  white  head  was  the  most  conspicuous  point  on  the 
northern  horizon.  We  sighted  another  herd  of  musk- 
oxen  on  our  right  feeding  on  the  frozen  grass  on  the  slope 
of  a  wind-swept  hill.  I  was  glad  that  we  were  not 
compelled  to  break  into  their  quiet  life.  Our  dogs  were 
now  so  full  that  it  would  be  some  hours  before  we  could 
speed  them  up  to  good  work.  Heavy  going  in  the  lee 
of  the  island  and  a  strong  head  wind  as  we  crossed 
the  Sound  made  things  a  bit  unpleasant;  however,  we 
made  the  twenty  miles  in  about  seven  hours.  While 
resting  the  dogs  for  a  moment,  both  Eskimos  rushed 
toward  a  little  knoll,  where  they  engaged  in  a  friendly 
tussle  over  something  on  the  ground.  In  answer  to  my 
inquiry,  they  yelled  back,  "Pemmicariy  eemu  tau!** 
("Pemmican  and  milk").  The  pemmican  was  Ameri- 
can, but  the  mUk  was  Norwegian.  Only  two  men  had 
preceded  us  along  this  coast.  Dr.  Frederick  A.  Cook  in 
1908  and  Sverdrup  in  1900.  We  had  undoubtedly  come 
upon  one  of  Sverdrup's  caches  which  he  placed  here 
twelve  years  before;  it  was  still  in  good  condition.  As 
there  were  only  two  cans  of  each,  I  allowed  the  Eskimos 
to  gnaw  the  pemmican  and  crack  the  frozen  milk  in 
their  teeth  to  their  hearts'  content. 


72       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [April 

It  had  now  been  blowing  so  long  that  as  we  crawled 
into  the  igloo  that  night  I  hoped  it  would  blow  itself 
out  before  morning,  for  go  we  must,  as  there  was  no 
game  here.  Breakfast  over,  a  cloud  of  snow  whirled 
up  into  our  faces  as  we  kicked  out  the  snow  block  form- 
ing the  door,  causing  us  to  dive  into  our  bags  for  wind- 
proofs  to  prevent  the  snow  from  driving  into  our  sheep- 
skin shirts.  Laying  a  course  by  the  wind,  we  headed 
out  across  the  bay  into  the  drift,  hoping  to  strike  well 
up  the  coast.  It  was  only  a  few  miles,  but  it  seemed  many 
before  we  found  ourselves  among  a  series  of  low  hills, 
the  sledges  dragging  on  gravel.  We  headed  north,  fol- 
lowing the  interminable  windings  of  the  shore,  which 
was  so  low  and  shelving  that  time  and  time  again  we 
kept  our  course  only  by  following  the  tidal  crack.  It 
cleared  up  beautifully  that  night  as  we  were  finishing 
the  igloo.  Hvitberget  seemed  so  near  that  we  were 
quite  disappointed  in  the  day's  work. 

On  April  11th  we  reached  what  we  thought  must  be 
Cape  Thomas  Hubbard.  Another  furious  wind-storm 
compelled  us  to  take  refuge  in  another  dugout  beneath 
a  high,  black  cliff,  and  here  we  were  determined  to  re- 
main imtil  it  cleared  up,  so  as  to  give  us  our  bearings. 
In  the  morning  we  were  startled  by  the  crunching  of 
snow  at  our  entrance — the  supporting  party  had  come 
on  schedule  time.  I  was  mighty  glad  to  see  Green  and 
his  two  Eskimo  boys.  Their  sledges  contained  every- 
thing that  I  needed  to  fill  out  twenty-five  full  days  on 
the  Polar  Sea.  If  Crocker  Land  were  only  120  miles 
distant  from  shore,  as  Peary  thought,  and  as  indicated 
on  the  latest  maps,  then  we  should  go  out  in  twelve 
days  and  back  in  seven,  at  the  most.  Two  or  three 
days    on    the    new   land,   together   with    storms    and 


1014]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  n 

hold-ups,  would  probably  use  up  the  extra  six  days' 
food. 

The  thirty-three  days'  continuous  work,  during  which 
they  had  covered  580  miles,  an  average  of  seventeen 
and  a  half  miles  a  day,  had  told  heavily  upon  the  dogs. 
Strong  head  winds,  heavy  loads,  and  insufficient  food 
gradually  wore  them  out,  ten  dropping  in  harness.  I 
was  more  convinced  than  ever  that  the  salt  in  our 
pemmican  was  responsible  for  the  vomiting,  dysentery, 
and  apparent  weakness  among  all  the  dogs  when  feed- 
ing upon  pemmican  alone.  That  it  could  not  be  relied 
upon  for  a  long  trip  on  the  Polar  Sea,  where  it  would 
be  impossible  to  secure  fresh  meat,  was  very  evident. 
Musk-oxen,  caribou,  and  Arctic  hares  had  saved  the 
day  thus  far.  My  only  plan  now  was  to  fill  up  the  dogs 
on  whatever  meat  we  could  get,  musk-ox  preferred, 
double  feed  them  with  pemmican  on  the  hard  marches, 
and  do  the  120  miles  with  a  rush. 

It  had  been  blowing  so  long  now  that  I  began  to 
doubt  if  good  weather  ever  occurred  at  this  Cape 
Horn  of  the  North.  As  if  to  dispel  this  belief,  on  the 
morning  of  the  13th  a  golden  ray  of  sunshine  streamed 
in  through  our  door;  a  more  perfect  day  was  never 
made — not  a  cloud,  not  a  breath  of  air.  The  four 
Eskimos  started  off  at  once  scouring  the  hills  for  game, 
while  Green  and  I  planned  to  reach  the  top  of  the  high 
hills  in  the  rear  of  our  dugout  in  search  of  Peary's  record 
and  a  possible  view  of  Crocker  Land  far  to  the  northwest. 

As  we  rounded  the  first  point  we  descried  an  Eskimo 
running  toward  the  camp.  An  accidental  discharge  of 
a  rifle  and  a  wounded  or  dead  Eskimo  were  my  first 
thoughts.  We  quickened  our  pace;  something  had 
surely  happened.     Yes,  indeed — barely  a  few  minutes 


74      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

from  the  dugout  and  he  had  killed  four  caribou!  This 
was  certainly  luck.  If  the  other  Eskimos  found  them  as 
plentiful,  our  dogs  could  go  on  for  some  time,  although 
caribou  meat  is  lamentably  lacking  in  strength  and 
stamina-producing  properties. 

Going  up  the  valley  and  ascending  the  highest  ridge, 
we  scanned  in  vain  the  horizon  for  a  cairn,  and  con- 
tinued to  do  so  for  some  eight  hours,  passing  from 
crest  to  crest.  We  examined  every  inch  of  the  hori- 
zon closely  with  powerful  glasses,  but  failed  to  discover 
the  slightest  appearance  of  land.  Tired  and  disap- 
pointed, we  trudged  back  to  camp,  arriving  late  in  the 
evening,  finding  all  our  hunters  in  and  all  reporting  no 
success. 

My  plans  were  quickly  made.  I  would  send  Arklio 
and  Noo-ka-ping-wa  back  to  Etah  at  once,  limiting  our 
party  to  four  only — E-took-a-shoo,  Pee-a-wah-to,  En- 
sign Green,  and  myself — thus  economizing  on  provisions 
and  enabling  us  to  remain  in  the  field  for  a  much  longer 
period.  The  two  boys,  furnished  with  oil,  tea,  and  bis- 
cuit, by  proceeding  slowly,  could  easily  depend  upon 
the  country  for  meat. 

Upon  failing  to  find  Peary's  cairn  and  record,  we 
reasoned  that  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard  must  be  some 
distance  yet  along  the  shore;  and  so  it  proved  to  be, 
for  as  we  swung  out  from  land  on  to  the  Polar  Sea  we 
commanded  a  good  view  of  the  whole  coast,  easily 
recognizing  the  Point  from  a  picture  in  Peary's  Nearest 
the  Pole.  The  giving  out  and  dropping  of  one  of  Green's 
dogs  on  the  first  day  caused  me  considerable  anxiety. 
If  they  were  dropping  now,  where  would  they  be  a 
week  later?  We  lightened  their  loads  at  once  to  try 
to  save  them,  hoping  they  would  gradually  gain  strength 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  75 

and  eventually  recover.  Rest  I  could  not  give  them  so 
late  in  the  year. 

As  we  headed  out  toward  the  northwest  over  a  hard, 
rolling  surface  of  blue  ice  I  felt  that  our  work  had  really 
begun;  the  500  miles  behind  were  but  the  path  leading 
up  to  our  field  of  work.  We  were  going  into  the  un- 
known, toward  that  point  where  land  had  been  put 
down  with  a  question  mark,  where  Doctor  Harris  said  it 
might  exist,  where  well-known  geologists  declared  that  it 
couldn't  exist,  and  where  Peary  claimed  that  it  did  exist. 

The  end  of  the  first  march  saw  us  encamped  at  the 
base  of  a  small  pressure  ridge  about  fourteen  miles  from 
land.  With  E-took-a-shoo  and  Pee-a-wah-to  I  mounted 
the  highest  mass  of  ice  to  survey  the  field  for  the  next 
day.  Not  a  word  was  spoken  for  some  minutes.  There 
were  several  pressure  ridges  in  sight  and  some  rubble 
ice  through  which  we  could  easily  pick  our  way.  The 
Eskimos  were  plainly  thinking,  and  their  thoughts  were 
not  pleasant  ones.  With  eyes  better  than  mine,  they 
were  not  only  seeing  the  same  things  which  I  saw,  but 
were  seeing  something  more — open  water.  When  their 
tongues  finally  began  to  wag,  I  caught  the  familiar 
words:  "Much  water,**  "The  sun  is  high,*'  "Will  not 
freeze,"  "The  ice  is  moving."  As  soon  as  I  realized 
that  they  were  worried  over  this,  I  remarked  that  I 
was  glad  to  see  the  ice  so  good  and  that  it  was  much 
better  than  when  we  were  with  Peary  on  the  last  trip. 
I  slapped  E-took-a-shoo  on  the  back,  bantered  Pee-a- 
wah-to  a  bit,  and  ended  by  telling  them  to  feed  two 
cans  of  pemmican  to  their  dogs  instead  of  one. 

The  dark  lanes  of  open  water  visible  ahead  and 
those  on  the  horizon,  as  indicated  by  a  water  sky,  were 
evidently  opened  up  by  the  full  moon  of  April  10th. 

6 


V6      FOUH  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [April 

Fortunately,  there  would  not  be  another  full  moon 
until  May  9th;  by  that  time  we  should  be  on  land. 
The  two  great  opposing  forces  which  guard  the  secrets 
of  the  Polar  Sea  are  pressure  ridges  and  open  water, 
the  former  smashing  sledges,  wearing  out  the  dogs, 
discouraging  the  men,  and  retarding  progress;  the  lat- 
ter decisive  and  convincing — thus  far  and  no  farther. 
Now  that  the  high  tides  were  over,  with  the  thermom- 
eter at  twenty  below  zero,  these  leads  would  soon 
freeze. 

In  the  morning  we  were  through  and  over  the  pressure 
ridges  in  a  very  short  time,  our  route  leading  us  out 
upon  a  long,  beautiful  stretch  of  smooth  ice.  We 
hopped  on  our  sledges,  snapped  the  whips,  and  away 
we  went!  When  on  the  verge  of  believing  that  "Old 
Torngak,"  the  evil  spirit  of  the  North,  was,  as  Oo-tah 
said,  "either  having  trouble  with  his  wife  or  had  for- 
gotten us,"  a  lead  was  thrown  across  our  path  about 
one  hundred  yards  wide  and  extending  apparently 
around  the  world.  Ice  was  forming  out  from  both 
banks,  a  thin  line  of  black  extending  down  through  the 
center.  Although  a  strong  southeast  wind  was  blowing, 
as  yet  there  seemed  to  be  no  pressure.  Clear,  cold,  calm 
weather  is  the  daily  prayer  of  a  man  on  the  Polar  Sea. 
We  were  confident  that  we  could  cross  in  the  morning. 

An  igloo  was  constructed  and  a  sounding  attempted. 
When  200  fathoms  of  wire  had  been  unreeled.  Green 
remarked  that  we  had  found  a  deep  hole.  When  500 
had  disappeared,  I  thought  he  was  right.  When  1,000 
was  reached,  we  simply  looked  at  each  other.  A  steady 
strain  was  kept  upon  the  wire,  yet  not  the  slightest  per- 
ceptible difference  could  be  detected  from  start  to 
finish.     Nearly  2,000  fathoms  were  lowered  into  that 


19141         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  77 

hole  before  we  gave  it  up.  We  were  only  seventeen 
miles  from  land,  and  there  was  only  one  conclusion — 
our  weight,  which  was  a  five-pound  pick,  was  so  light 
that  it  was  being  carried  off  by  the  current  probably  flow- 
ing into  Nansen  Sound.  To  get  that  wire  and  pick  back, 
with  the  thermometer  at  twenty  below  zero,  was  a  long 
and  tedious  job.  Attaching  a  handle  to  the  reel,  we 
relieved  one  another  every  fifteen  minutes.  At  the 
end  of  five  hours  we  expected  to  hear  Pee-a-wah-to, 
who  had  the  last  relay,  call  out  at  any  moment,  "Ti- 
mahr  ("Finished!*').  Instead  of  this,  he  stuck  his 
crestfallen  face  in  at  the  door  with  the  announcement 
that  the  wire  had  broken  and  our  pick  was  gone! 

A  series  of  soundings  was  so  important  that  this  loss 
was  a  serious  one.  What  could  we  use  for  a  weight.'* 
Mentally  we  ran  through  every  article  in  the  equipment. 
Only  one  pick  was  left;  certainly  it  would  never  do  to 
use  that.  Our  pemmican  hatchets  were  too  small.  An 
eight-pound  can  of  pemmican  would  not  sink.  One 
bottle  of  mercury  for  the  artificial  horizon — we  must 
have  that  for  our  observations.  No,  there  was  not  a 
thing  that  would  serve.  To  think  that  my  dogs  had 
pulled  that  reel  containing  2,000  fathoms  of  wire  and 
weighing  about  forty  pounds,  for  nearly  500  miles,  only 
to  have  it  thrown  away  without  a  single  sounding!  I 
felt  as  if  I  were  a  pall-bearer  at  a  funeral  as  I  carried 
the  reel  to  the  top  of  the  highest  ridge  and  left  it  there. 

The  first  man  who  awoke  in  the  morning  rushed  for 
the  peep-hole  in  the  front  of  the  igloo.  Yes,  the  lead 
was  frozen;  we  could  cross.  Hitching  up  the  dogs,  we 
ran  along  the  lead  to  a  section  of  the  ice  which  we  judged 
by  its  whitish  appearance  to  be  the  strongest.  E-took- 
a-shoo  advanced  cautiously  and  tapped  it  with  his  whip- 


78       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

stock,  saying,  " Nah-muck-tor  ("All  right!").  As  I 
watched  his  little  short  legs  running  behind  the  komatik, 
I  was  astonished  at  the  flexibility  of  salt-water  ice.  It 
yielded  like  a  strip  of  rubber,  one  wave  seeming  to  pre- 
cede and  another  to  follow  him.  I  had  visions  of  E-took- 
a-shoo  camping  alone  if  he  had  weakened  it  in  any  way 
by  passing  over  it.  As  Green  crossed  I  said  to  myself, 
"He  will  never  get  there";  but  he  did.  Two  of  my  dogs 
broke  through;  a  shake  of  their  furry  coats,  a  wag  of 
their  tails,  and  they  were  ready  to  go  on. 

As  a  reward  for  crossing  this  lead,  a  perfect  picture 
presented  itself — a  long,  level  stretch  of  compact  snow. 
We  easily  covered  twelve  miles  in  four  hours,  when  we 
were  stopped  by  another  lead.  Sending  Pee-a-wah-to 
west  and  E-took-a-shoo  east  to  reconnoiter.  Green  and 
I  impatiently  awaited  their  return.  Knowing  that  the 
former  was  a  little  discouraged  and  feeling  that  I  could 
not  trust  him  for  an  accurate  report,  I  soon  followed. 
About  one  mile  west  from  the  sledges  the  lead  ended 
in  two  branches.  Long  before  I  reached  this  point  I 
could  hear  the  crunching  of  the  ice.  The  opposite  sides 
of  the  first  branch  were  now  in  contact,  offering  a  bridge 
scarcely  wide  enough  for  one  sledge  to  cross;  here  the 
edges  were  slowly  rising  and  crumpling  with  a  peculiar 
humming  sound.  Jumping  over  this  and  hurrying 
across  an  old  floe  some  fifty  yards  wide,  I  made  a  hasty 
examination  of  the  second  branch.  Spanning  this  was 
a  dbaotic  mass  of  rubble  jammed  so  tightly  together 
that  it  ought  to  bear  our  weight.  There  was  no  time 
to  be  lost;  it  might  oj>en  any  minute.  Running  back 
down  the  lead  I  yelled  to  the  boys  to  come  on.  The 
first  lead  was  easily  taken  by  means  of  the  narrow 
bridge,  but  the  second  presented  the  hardest  ten  min- 


STRETCH   OF   KOUGH    ICE   ON   POLAR    SEA 
Such  work  smashes  sledges  and  wears  out  men  and  dogs. 


LAST   CAMP   ON    POLAR   SEA 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  79 

utes'  work  of  the  whole  trip — "rough"  and  "rubble" 
do  not  half  express  the  character  of  the  siu^ace. 

As  before,  excellent  going  followed.  With  eighteen 
miles  to  our  credit,  we  finished  the  day  on  the  banks  of 
another  narrow  lead  which  froze  over  during  the  night. 
At  the  end  of  the  next  day  (April  19th)  we  were  in  high 
hopes  of  making  our  distance.  Throughout  the  day  it 
had  been  a  succession  of  long,  level  stretches  and  newly 
frozen  leads  with  clean-cut  edges — no  pressure  ridges 
whatever.  The  haze  on  the  horizon,  which  had  been  a 
constant  attendant,  was  slowly  disappearing;  no  water 
sky  could  be  seen;  all  the  leads  were  evidently  frozen; 
without  a  doubt  we  were  beyond  the  pressure  area. 
By  dead-reckoning  we  judged  that  we  were  about  fifty- 
two  miles  off  shore.  As  this  was  based  upon  an  esti- 
mate of  only  three  and  one-half  miles  per  hour,  I  was 
quite  sure  that  our  regular  observations  would  add 
to  the  distance  covered. 

On  the  20th  we  stretched  out  for  a  record,  crossing 
nine  newly  frozen  leads,  and  estimating  at  the  end  of 
the  day  that  we  had  surely  covered  thirty  miles.  Two 
of  Pee-a-wah-to*s  dogs  dropped  and  were  left  on  the 
trail,  hoping  that  they  might  come  into  camp  later. 
One  was  found  lying  with  the  team  in  the  morning;  he 
went  on  for  a  few  days  and  then  dropped  for  good. 
Pee-a-wah-to*s  dogs  were  plainly  showing  the  effect  of 
his  constant  riding  on  the  sledge,  for  he  was  no  longer 
leading  and  breaking  the  trail  as  he  had  done  in  the 
past.  Like  all  other  Eskimos,  he  did  not  believe  in 
walking  when  he  could  ride.  Green,  with  good  judg- 
ment and  excellent  driving,  still  kept  his  dogs  on  their 
feet;  although  one  was  very  weak;  the  others  seemed  to 
be  getting  stronger.     He  walked  nearly  every  step;  in 


80       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

fact,  I  think  he  would  rather  have  dropped  himself  than 
have  his  team  give  out.  Our  total  distance  at  the  end 
of  this  march  was  estimated  to  be  seventy-eight  miles. 
Looking  back  toward  the  southwest,  nothing  could  be 
seen  but  a  small,  dark  mass  which  we  judged  might  be 
Caj>e  Colgate,  or  some  higher  point  in  Grant  Land. 

April  21st  was  a  beautiful  day;  all  mist  was  gone  and 
the  clear  blue  of  the  sky  extended  down  to  the  very 
horizon.  Green  was  no  sooner  out  of  the  igloo  than  he 
came  running  back,  calling  in  through  the  door,  "We 
have  it!"  Following  Green,  we  ran  to  the  top  of  the 
highest  mound.  There  could  be  no  doubt  about  it. 
Great  heavens!  what  a  land!  Hills,  valleys,  snow- 
capi>ed  peaks  extending  through  at  least  one  hundred 
and  twenty  degrees  of  the  horizon.  I  turned  to  Pee-a- 
wah-to  anxiously  and  asked  him  toward  which  point 
we  had  better  lay  our  course.  After  critically  examin- 
ing the  supposed  landfall  for  a  few  minutes,  he  as- 
tounded me  by  replying  that  he  thought  it  was  poo-jok 
(mist).  E-took-a-shoo  offered  no  encouragement,  say- 
ing, "Perhaps  it  is."  Green  was  still  convinced  that  it 
must  be  land.  At  any  rate,  it  was  worth  watching. 
As  we  proceeded  the  landscape  gradually  changed  its 
appearance  and  varied  in  extent  with  the  swinging 
around  of  the  sun;  finally  at  night  it  disappeared  alto- 
gether. As  we  drank  our  hot  tea  and  gnawed  the 
pemmican,  we  did  a  good  deal  of  thinking.  Could  Peary 
with  all  his  experience  have  been  mistaken?  Was  this 
mirage  which  had  deceived  us  the  very  thing  which 
had  deceived  him  eight  years  before?  If  he  did  see 
Crocker  Land,  then  it  was  considerably  more  than  120 
miles  away,  for  we  were  now  at  least  100  miles  from 
shore,  with  nothing  in  sight. 


1914]         IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  81 

Our  prayer  now  was  for  clear,  cold  weather  and  good 
going.  It  was  answered.  On  the  morning  of  the  22d, 
the  thermometer  stood  at  thirty-one  below  zero;  the  air 
was  clear  as  crystal.  Green  got  a  latitude  of  81°  52'  and 
a  longitude  of  103°  32',  which  agreed  almost  exactly 
with  our  dead-reckoning.  To  increase  our  latitude  we 
set  a  more  northerly  course  on  the  23d  and  24th,  with 
a  variation  of  178°  westerly.  Observations  on  these  two 
days  put  us  ahead  of  oiu*  dead-reckoning  in  latitude  82° 
30',  longitude  108°  22',  150  miles  due  northwest  from 
Cape  Thomas  Hubbard.  We  had  not  only  reached  the 
brown  spot  on  the  map,  but  we  were  thirty  miles  in- 
land! You  can  imagine  how  earnestly  we  scanned 
every  foot  of  that  horizon — ^not  a  thing  in  sight,  not 
even  our  almost  constant  traveling  companion,  the 
mirage.  We  were  convinced  that  we  were  in  pursuit 
of  a  will-o'-the-wisp,  ever  receding,  ever  changing, 
ever  beckoning. 

In  June,  1906,  Peary  stood  on  the  summit  of  Cape 
Colgate.  His  discovery  of  the  new  land  is  announced 
in  Nearest  the  Pole  as  follows: 

North  stretched  the  well-known  ragged  surface  of  the  polar  pack, 
and  northwest  it  was  with  a  thrill  that  my  glasses  revealed  the  fain^ 
white  summits  of  a  distant  land  which  my  Eskimos  claimed  to  have 
seen  as  we  came  along  from  the  last  camp. 

A  few  days  later  he  stood  on  the  summit  of  Cape 
Columbia.    Quoting  again: 

The  clear  day  greatly  favored  my  work  in  taking  a  round  of 
angles,  and  with  the  glass  I  could  make  out  apparently  a  little 
more  distinctly  the  snow-clad  summits  of  the  distant  land  in  the 
northwest,  above  the  ice  horizon.  My  heart  leaped  the  interven- 
ing miles  of  ice  as  I  looked  longingly  at  this  land,  and  in  fancy  I 


82       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [April 

trod  its  shores  and  climbed  its  summits,  even  though  I  knew  that 
that  pleasure  could  be  only  for  another  in  another  season. 

He  left  his  discovery  for  younger  men  to  prove  or 
disprove;  this  we  had  done.  If  Admiral  Peary  did  see 
land  due  northwest  from  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard,  then 
we  had  moved  it  at  least  200  miles  from  shore.  To  see 
land  at  a  distance  of  200  miles  from  where  Peary  stood, 
the  land  must  reach  an  altitude  of  more  than  30,000  feet ! 
Such  an  altitude  in  that  latitude  and  longitude  is  con- 
trary to  all  scientific  reasoning.  The  highest  peaks  of 
Grant  Land  and  EUesmere  Land  do  not  exceed  6,000 
feet,  while  Axel  Heiberg,  Amund  Ringnes,  and  EUef 
Ringnes  Islands  are  even  considerably  lower. 

Food  for  two  days'  farther  advance  remained  on  our 
sledges.  Should  we  still  go  on?  From  our  last  camp 
onward  the  character  of  the  ice  seemed  to  have  changed 
completely.  The  leads  and  small  pressure  ridges  hither- 
to had  trended  east  and  west  diagonally  across  our  course. 
The  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  eighth  marches  were  over 
a  rolling  plain  of  old  ice  covered  with  low  mounds  and 
compacted  drift.  From  the  summit  of  a  pressure  ridge 
the  sea  ice  now  presented  a  perfect  chaos  of  pressure 
ridges  crossing  and  crisscrossing  in  all  directions.  Such 
a  condition  must  result  from  one  of  the  following  causes: 
proximity  to  land,  strong  currents,  or  passage  over 
shoal  ground.  I  am  inclined  to  attribute  it  to  the  last. 
That  we  were  not  near  land  was  evident.  That  there 
was  no  current  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  a  pemmican 
hatchet  was  lowered  by  a  strong  thread  to  a  depth  of 
150  fathoms,  remaining  perfectly  plumb  throughout  the 
whole  process.  Two  days'  work  through  such  ice  would 
net  possibly  eight  or  ten  miles,  breaking  sledges,  wear- 
ing out  dogs,  and  reducing  supplies  to  the  limit.     To 


1914]  IN  SEARCH  OF  CROCKER  LAND  83 

really  test  it,  on  the  mnth  day  we  went  forward  for 
about  six  miles.  The  ice  was  all  that  it  appeared  to 
be  and  worse. 

It  was  late  in  the  year;  we  had  more  than  thirty 
leads  behind  us;  a  full  moon  was  due  on  May  9th;  we 
had  more  than  covered  our  distance.  To-morrow  we 
would  go  back. 


THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA 

"ly^Y  dreams  of  the  last  four  years  were  merely 
■^"-■-  dreams;  my  hopes  had  ended  in  bitter  disap- 
pointment. 

If  we  were  fortmiate  enough  now  to  be  favored  with 
good  weather,  we  could  double-march  back  on  our 
trail,  sleep  in  the  same  igloos,  and  make  the  land  in  four 
marches.  We  turned  anxious  eyes  toward  the  horizon 
before  going  in  for  the  night.  Blowing  from  the  south- 
west and  drifting  was  the  report  in  the  morning.  Then 
our  day  would  be  a  hard  one.  Could  the  Eskimos  pos- 
sibly pick  up  the  trail?  As  we  dashed  out  of  camp  and 
headed  for  home,  now  and  then  I  caught  a  glimpse  of 
the  faint  traces  of  the  outward-bound  sledge  tracks.  Ar- 
riving on  the  banks  of  the  first  lead,  I  inquired  of  E-took- 
a-shoo,  who  had  been  leading,  if  he  had  kept  to  the 
trail.  To  my  astonishment,  he  replied  that  he  had  lost 
it  a  few  minutes  out  from  camp,  at  least  three  miles  in 
the  rear.  In  their  characteristic,  happy-go-lucky  jvay, 
they  had  headed  across  country.  Would  they  have  done 
so  had  they  been  alone  or  had  we  been  without  a  com- 
pass, for  which  they  have  great  respect?  I  tried  to 
conceal  my  irritation  at  this  unfortunate  occurrence 
at  the  very  start  of  our  retreat.    The  trail  must  be  found 


1914]  THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        85 

and  found  at  once,  as  every  minute  of  drift  was  tending 
to  conceal  it.  Pee-a-wah-to  went  to  the  east  and 
E-took-a-shoo  to  the  west,  closely  examining  the  banks 
of  the  lead;  in  thirty  minutes  they  were  back,  failing 
to  find  any  traces  whatever.  But  it  must  be  found; 
if  lost  now  it  was  lost  forever.  Now  Pee-a-wah-to  went 
west  and  Green  and  I  east  on  opposite  banks;  not  the 
faintest  indication  of  a  trail  anywhere.  Again  we  met 
at  the  sledges  and  talked  it  over.  Pee-a-wah-to  thought 
it  must  be  far  to  the  east;  E-took-a-shoo  grinned  and 
said  he  didn't  know.  tJj)on  my  telling  them  again  that 
it  must  be  found  or  we  should  go  back  to  camp  and 
pick  it  up  there,  Pee-a-wah-to  started  east  again  and 
E-took-a-shoo  toward  home.  As  the  latter  disappeared 
in  the  flying  snow,  I  thought  to  myself:  "That's  the 
last  we  shall  see  of  him  for  some  time."  Green  and  I 
kicked  our  toes  and  took  refuge  in  a  hole  in  the  ice, 
trying  to  be  cheerful. 

In  about  an  hour  my  dogs  jumped  to  their  feet,  all 
attention,  looking  toward  the  south.  Far  off  in  the  dis- 
tance, above  the  sound  of  wind  and  drifting  snow,  came 
a  faint  yell.  It  was  some  minutes  before  we  could  de- 
tect the  little,  short  body  of  E-took-a-shoo  dimly  out- 
lined through  the  drift  and  waving  both  arms  for  us 
to  come  on.  We  recalled  Pee-a-wah-to  and  were  soon 
following  our  old  trail,  which  reappeared  at  various 
intervals,  but  was  none  too  easy  to  follow;  indeed, 
that  day's  work  by  those  Eskimos  in  keeping  to  the 
trail  in  a  blinding  snow-storm  was  nothing  short  of 
marvelous.  With  a  feeling  of  relief  we  saw  the  black 
hole  in  the  front  of  No.  7  igloo;  we  were  content  with  a 
single  march  under  such  conditions. 

We  were  up  at  3.15  on  the  morning  of  the  26th  to 


86      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Apbil 

greet  a  glorious  day  for  the  long  march  from  igloo  No. 
7  to  No.  5.  We  stopped  at  No.  6  for  hot  tea,  biscuit, 
and  j)emmican,  not  forgetting  the  dogs,  each  of  whom 
received  one  jx)und  of  pemmican  and  two  hours'  rest. 
On  the  27th  we  marched  from  igloo  No.  5  to  No.  4  in 
the  same  p>erfect  weather  and  perfect  going,  all  leads 
being  frozen.  Throughout  the  day  the  mirage  of  the 
sea  ice,  resembling  in  every  particular  an  immense 
land,  continued  to  mock  us.  It  seemed  so  near  and  so 
easily  attainable  if  we  would  only  turn  back. 

Our  dogs  received  two  pounds  of  pemmican  a  day 
throughout  the  retreat,  which  is  ordinarily  a  double 
ration.  They  were  frightfully  thin  and  needed  every 
ounce  of  it.  Thus  far  they  were  doing  remarkably  well, 
considering  that  they  were  all  weak  from  dysentery, 
some  staggering  in  the  traces  and  not  pulling  a  pound. 
Twice  I  slipped  faithful  old  Sipsoo,  who  was  slowly 
pulling  his  heart  out,  hoping  that  he  would  lie  down 
and  rest,  and  come  on  later  into  camp.  As  we  started 
along  without  him,  he  lifted  his  head,  gave  me  an  ap- 
pealing look,  as  if  to  say,  "Don't  you  want  me  any 
longer.?"  In  a  few  minutes  he  had*  trotted  by  and  was 
at  his  old  place  in  the  team,  pretending  to  pull.  Now 
staggering,  now  falling,  on  he  went,  struggling  to  keep 
his  place.  He  was  born  to  pull.  I  harnessed  him  into 
the  team,  and  there  he  remained  to  the  end  of  the 
trip. 

No.  1  and  No.  2  igloo  were  practically  together.  We 
were  held  up  by  open  water,  therefore  we  decided  to  try 
for  the  nearest  point  of  land  from  No.  3,  which  is  Cape 
Thomas  Hubbard.  WTien  we  were  within  a  mile  of 
land  we  could  see  a  cairn  on  the  summit  of  a  low,  pro- 
jecting point  to  the  southward  of  us.     As  Peary  was 


.> 

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d 

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V- 


PEAKY  RECORD  FOUND  WITH  FLAG  ON 
SUMMIT   OF   CAPE    THOMAS   HUBBARD 


PEARY    CAIRN    ON    SUMMIT    OF    CAPE 
THOMAS    HUBBARD 


PORTION    OF    AMERICAN    FLAG    LEFT     BY     PEARY   AT     CAPE    THOMAS    HUBBARD 
AND   FOUND   BY   AUTHOR   IN   MAY,    1914 


1914]    THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        87 

the  only  man  who  had  ever  been  here,  we  knew  it  was 
his,  described  as  being  on  the  "low  foreshore"  beneath 
the  cape.  Although  we  had  walked  now  for  thirty 
miles,  I  felt  that  we  must  take  advantage  of  the  good 
weather  by  ascending  the  hill  to  secure  Peary *s  record. 
No  one  knows  what  the  morrow  will  bring  in  the  Arctic. 
I  shall  remember  that  walk  for  some  time  to  come. 
The  Admiral  wanted  the  man  who  secured  that  record 
to  work  for  it,  and  we  did,  breaking  through  a  heavy 
crust  at  every  step  until  we  reached  the  very  top. 
There  are  three  summits  to  the  cape,  situated  at  dif- 
ferent heights.  The  first  we  passed,  expecting  the  rec- 
ord to  be  on  the  second.  To  our  disappointment,  there 
was  no  sign  of  a  cairn.  Could  it  be  possible  that  Peary 
climbed  that  next  high  hill  after  walking  from  Cape 
Sheridan,  a  distance  of  four  hundred  miles  .f^  We  pulled 
ourselves  together  wearily  and  started  down  into  the 
hollow  which  divided  the  two  hills.  We  climbed  ever- 
succeeding  crests,  but,  finally,  the  last  was  mounted, 
revealing,  outlined  against  the  blue  sky,  a  large  well- 
built  cairn  enveloped  in  a  blanket  of  snow.  There  was 
a  short  stick  projecting  from  the  top,  and  at  the  base 
was  a  cocoa-tin  containing  a  piece  of  the  American  flag 
and  the  very  brief  record,  "Peary,  June  28,  1906."  We 
replaced  this  with  a  small  silk  flag  and  a  record,  also  a 
duplicate  of  the  Peary  record. 

We  now  turned  eagerly  to  an  examination  of  the 
Polar  Sea.  Peary  stood  here  in  June,  1906,  and  from 
this  very  spot  he  saw  what  resembled  land  lying  to  the 
northwest,  120  miles  distant.  The  day  was  exception- 
ally clear,  not  a  cloud  or  trace  of  mist;  if  land  could  be 
seen,  now  was  our  time.  Yes,  there  it  was!  It  could 
even  be  seen  without  a  glass,  extending  from  southwest 


88       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [April 

true  to  north-northeast.  Our  powerful  glasses,  how- 
ever, brought  out  more  clearly  the  dark  background  in 
contrast  with  the  white,  the  whole  resembling  hills, 
valleys,  and  snow-capped  peaks  to  such  a  degree  that, 
had  we  not  been  out  on  the  frozen  sea  for  150  miles,  we 
would  have  staked  our  lives  upon  its  reality.  Our 
judgment  then,  as  now,  is  that  this  was  a  mirage  or 
loom  of  the  sea  ice.  That  there  is  land  west  of  Axel 
Heiberg  Land — not  northwest,  as  some  scientists  would 
have  us  believe — I  have  no  doubt.  I  would  limit  the 
eastern  edge  of  this  land  to  120°  west  longitude,  and 
the  northern  edge  to  82°  north  latitude,  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons:  Our  eight  days'  travel  out  from  Cape 
Thomas  Hubbard  was  over  ice  which  had  not  been 
subjected  to  great  pressure,  evidence  that  it  was  pro- 
tected by  some  great  body  of  land  to  the  west  against 
the  tremendous  fields  of  ice  driven  on  by  the  Arctic 
current,  which  has  its  inception  north  of  Behring  Strait 
and  Wrangel  Land,  across  the  Pole,  and  down  the 
eastern  shore  of  Greenland.  At  our  farthest  north,  82°, 
all  was  suddenly  changed.  The  long,  level  fields  ended 
in  a  sharp  line  going  east  and  west;  beyond  this  line 
there  was  the  roughest  kind  of  ice,  which  had  evidently 
been  pushed  around  the  northern  point  of  this  unknown 
land  over  shoal  ground  extending  toward  the  north. 

We  were  so  tired  upon  arriving  at  the  igloo  that  we 
decided  not  to  try  for  the  second  record  on  the  point 
until  morning.  Three  days'  food  now  remained  upon 
our  sledges.  I  decided  to  send  Green  and  Pee-a-wah-to 
to  survey  and  explore  the  twenty-five  miles  of  the  un- 
known coast-line  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land,  while  E-took-a- 
shoo  and  I  ran  to  Cape  Colgate  to  secure  the  farthest- 
north  record  of  Sverdrup. 


1914]    THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        89 

The  sky  had  an  ominous  appearance  in  the  morning; 
the  long-delayed  storm  was  certainly  coming.  It  was 
now  blowing  and  drifting.  A  two  or  three  days'  delay 
here,  consuming  what  little  food  we  did  have,  would  be 
fatal  to  our  plans.  We  must  move,  and  move  at  once. 
Telling  Green  to  proceed  down  the  coast  two  marches 
and  back  in  one,  E-took-a-shoo  and  I  headed  north  for 
the  dugout,  calling  back,  "Good-by,  Pee-a-wah-to." 
Above  the  sound  of  drifting  snow  I  heard  his  faint  reply 
in  broken  English  and  saw  him  turn  toward  the  south. 

In  an  hour  we  realized  that  there  were  more  com- 
fortable places  in  the  world  than  the  northern  shore  of 
Axel  Heiberg  Land  in  a  blizzard.  Unable  to  see  for 
swirling  snow,  and  at  times  fighting  for  breath,  we 
groped  our  way  along  under  the  cliffs  toward  a  shelter. 
Was  xl  possible  for  E-took-a-shoo  to  find  the  old  igloo 
this  side  of  the  dugout?  Repeatedly  the  violence  of  the 
wind  was  such  that  our  dogs  could  not  move  an  inch. 
With  faces  protected  from  the  icy  blast  by  burying  them 
in  our  sleeping-robes  on  top  of  the  sledges,  we  slowly 
pushed  our  way  from  point  to  point.  Long  after  I 
thought  we  had  passed  the  igloo  and  were  well  on  our 
yvay  to  the  dugout,  a  yell  from  the  native  announced 
that  he  had  stumbled  upon  it. 

The  roof  had  fallen  and  it  was  full  of  snow,  but  it 
was  still  a  home,  as  any  hole  would  have  been  under 
such  conditions.  By  vigorous  use  of  feet  and  hands 
it  was  soon  cleared  out,  our  grass  bags  were  crammed 
into  the  door  opening,  the  blue-flame  was  lit,  and  the 
storm  was  over  as  far  as  we  were  concerned. 

By  morning  the  roof  had  fallen  so  low  that  it  was 
almost  resting  upon  our  bodies  as  we  lay  on  the  bed 
platform.     Frequent   visits   to   the   peep-hole   brought 


90        FOUR  YEARS  m  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [IHay 

forth  the  same  reply  from  E-took-a-shoo — "Impos- 
sible!" Om*  food  was  nearly  gone;  our  dogs  had  not 
been  fed  for  two  days;  if  there  was  the  slightest  chance 
of  our  making  the  dugout  ten  miles  to  the  south,  we 
would  try  it.  For  hours  and  hours  we  lay  listening  to 
that  distant  roar  of  wind  and  driving  snow  until  I  could 
stand  it  no  longer. 

"Let's  try  it/'  I  suggested  to  E-took-a-shoo,  who 
grinned  and  replied: 

"Yes,  let's  try  it." 

As  we  lashed  down  the  clothes-  and  komatik-bags  to 
the  sledge,  the  dogs,  like  white  mounds  in  the  drift, 
arose,  shook  off  their  snowy  covering,  blinked  through 
eyes  half  filled  with  snow,  as  if  to  say,  "Where  do  you 
think  you  are  going  now?'* 

Out  of  clefts,  gullies,  and  valleys  the  wind  dr  pped 
down  upon  us  with  the  force  of  an  avalanche.  The 
flying  snow  eddied  and  whirled  and  wrapped  us  in  a 
white  mantle,  until  dogs  and  men  seemed  as  white 
specters.  Within  five  miles  of  our  dugout  the  wind 
suddenly  changed;  now  it  was  at  our  backs,  blowing 
us  along  at  a  rattling  pace  around  the  point  and  down 
the  straight  shore.  As  we  stopped  to  untangle  traces 
a  white  woK  came  bounding  up  to  within  twenty  yards. 
My  king  dog  was  nearly  frantic  with  excitement.  With 
a  leap  he  snapp>ed  the  trace.  I  had  read  of  these  power- 
ful wolves  tearing  Eskimo  dogs  to  pieces,  and  for  the 
moment  I  had  fears  for  the  safety  of  my  best  dog. 
They  were  groundless.  The  wolf  was  terrified  and  took 
to  his  heels.  Within  a  few  minutes  the  dog  had  over- 
taken him,  took  one  smell,  dropped  his  tail  between 
his  legs,  and  came  trotting  slowly  back,  wearing  a  most 
shamefaced  expression.     "To  think  that  a  dog  of  my 


19141    THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        91 

age  should  have  mistaken  a  wolf  for  a  bear!"  was  written 
all  over  him. 

The  wolf  at  this  sudden  turn  of  events  gained  courage 
and  followed  the  dog  back.  E-took-a-shoo  was  so 
nervous  that  I  was  afraid  he  would  blow  up,  repeating 
over  and  over  again: 

"And  we  have  no  rifle!'* 

We  proceeded  eastward.  The  wolf  followed  us  close- 
ly almost  to  the  very  door  of  our  dugout.  E-took-a-shoo 
jumped  from  his  sledge  and  ran  for  the  black  hole  in 
the  snow,  his  little  short  legs  revolving  like  the  spokes 
of  a  wheel.  The  wolf  had  now  stopped  and  was  lurk- 
ing behind  the  rough  ice  of  the  ice-foot.  In  a  few 
minutes  he  had  disappeared  entirely.     Wise  old  owl! 

I  determined  to  wait  here  until  the  weather  had 
cleared  and  the  dogs  had  gained  strength,  which  could 
only  come  by  feeding  them  fresh  meat.  To  pound 
them  over  to  Cape  Colgate  in  their  present  weakened 
condition  simply  to  secure  a  record  would  be  a  crime. 
They  had  already  covered  725  miles  in  fifty  days — a 
good,  honest  work;  they  should  rest  for  a  few  days  at 
least. 

E-took-a-shoo  realized  the  necessity  for  meat,  and, 
although  it  was  still  blowing  hard,  he  started  back 
among  the  hills  at  once.  In  ten  hours  he  was  back  with 
two  caribou. 

May  2d  and  3d  were  typical  of  the  cape — strong 
winds  and  drifting  snows.  On  the  morning  of  the  4th 
I  began  to  worry  over  the  continued  absence  of  Green 
and  Pee-a-wah-to.  Six  days  had  elapsed  and  I  had 
given  them  only  three  days'  food.  Where  could  they 
be  and  what  could  have  happened.'*  So  constantly  did 
I  watch  that  point  to  the  north  throughout  the  day  that 


92       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   PVIat 

the  picture  is  still  in  my  mind — ^the  broken  ice,  the  slop- 
ing shore,  the  high  bluff,  the  white  hill.  Late  in  the 
afternoon  a  black  dot  appeared  on  the  horizon — some- 
thing was  coming.  As  the  dot  approached  I  could  con- 
tain myself  no  longer;  the  sledge  coming  must  be  Pee-a- 
wah-to's.     Where  was  Green? 

I  ran  along  the  ice-foot  to  meet  the  sledge.  Yes, 
they  were  Pee-a-wah-to*s  dogs.  As  the  question, 
"Where's  Green?"  was  about  to  burst  from  my  lips, 
the  driver,  whose  eyes  were  covered  with  large  metal 
glasses,  seemed  to  turn  suddenly  into  a  strange  likeness 
of  Green.     He  looked  as  if  he  had  risen  from  the  grave. 

"This  is  all  there  is  left  of  your  southern  division,'* 
he  said. 

"W^at  do  you  mean — ^Pee-a-wah-to  dead?  Your 
dogs  and  sledge  gone?"  I  inquired. 

"Yes,  Pee-a-wah-to  is  dead;  my  dogs  were  buried 
alive;  my  sledge  is  under  the  snow  forty  miles  away." 

The  story  was  quickly  told.  Green,  inexperienced  in 
the  handling  of  Eskimos,  and  failing  to  understand  their 
motives  and  temperament,  had  felt  it  necessary  to  shoot 
his  companion.  Pee-a-wah-to  was  a  faithful  assistant 
of  Peary  for  more  than  two  years,  his  last  trip  as  one 
of  the  famous  starvation  party  to  the  world's  record  of 
87°  6'.  He  had  been  my  traveling  companion  from  the 
first,  and  one  of  the  best.  How  I  hated  to  tell  the 
mother  and  the  five  children  that  the  father  was  not  to 
return! 

Our  dugout  was  a  dreary  hole.  The  northern  end  of 
Axel  Heiberg  Land,  with  its  ever-rushing,  whirling  winds, 
seemed  the  dreariest  of  the  dreary.  Green  consented  to 
start,  and  off  toward  home  we  went.  When  we  arrived 
at  the  "Took-too"  igloo,  some  fifteen  miles  down  the 


smJSsBb^^*^— «S— -lA      '^W. 


Caribou  and  Musk-oxen 


Caribou 


Raven 
Polar  Bear 
Blue  Fox 


Musk-oxen 


Arctic  Hare 


Ptarmigan 
Caribou 


^^!fta. 


J^^ 


..<!^    M- 


jOOsi «^  I         1 


^P'-^^'^' 


i^M«i| 


An  Arctic  Tragedy  in  Seven  Acts 


ESKIMO   DRAWINGS  OF   DIFFERENT   ANIMALS 


1914]    THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA       93 

coast,  we  were  not  surprised  to  find  a  sledge  abandoned 
by  Arklio  and  Noo-ka-ping-wa  on  their  return.  They 
had  wisely  decided  to  unite  their  few  remaining  weak- 
ened dogs  into  one  team. 

Ten  miles  south  of  this  camp  we  saw  four  caribou 
grazing  on  the  frozen  moss  of  a  sloping  hillside,  300 
yards  from  the  shore.  Green  guarded  our  dogs,  while 
E-took-a-shoo  and  I  crept  cautiously  to  within  shoot- 
ing-distance. We  dropped  upon  our  breasts  and  took 
long,  careful,  deadly  aim.  Shot  followed  shot.  Six  in 
all!  The  caribou  regarded  them  as  mere  every -day  in- 
cidents, hardly  raising  their  heads!  Beginning  to  dis- 
trust my  eyes  at  the  sight  of  four  big  bodies  calmly 
feeding  at  what  was  apparently  a  distance  of  only  forty 
yards  away,  I  scrutinized  the  fat  face  of  my  Eskimo 
companion.  He  grinned  sheepishly,  pressed  his  cheek 
more  firmly  to  the  stock  of  his  .44,  squinted,  and  pulled 
again.  This  last  shot  was  comforting  in  that  it  was 
acknowledged  by  a  start,  a  shaking  of  heads,  and  a  dis- 
appearance over  the  crest  of  the  nearest  hill. 

"The  last  of  them,"  I  muttered,  as  I  started  back 
toward  the  sledges. 

E-took-a-shoo  stood  wavering,  first  looking  at  me 
and  then  toward  the  hill.  To  my  surprise,  he  tucked 
his  rifle  under  his  arm  and  began  to  ascend  the  hill. 

"Good  courage,"  I  remarked  to  Green,  "but  he'll 
never  get  them." 

He  was  back  in  fifteen  minutes  with  them  all!  Per- 
sistency combined  with  patience — the  secret  of  a  good 
hunter — these  qualities  the  Eskimo  has  in  a  marked 
degree. 

We  fed  a  whole  caribou  to  each  team.  How  they 
ripped  into  the  red,  tender  flesh;  how  they  crunched  and 


94        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

cleaned  the  bones,  wagging  their  tails  and  plainly  saying: 
"Thank  God,  we're  on  land  again!  No  more  penunican 
for  us!" 

An  hour  later,  as  we  helped  ourselves  to  steaming 
hearts,  tongues,  livers,  and  tenderloin,  we  agreed  with 
all  they  said.  The  change  from  pemmican  was  pleas- 
ant. Three  of  the  brains  were  put  aside  to  be  frozen 
for  breakfast. 

Through  the  haze  of  the  6th,  white-capped  Hvit- 
berget  could  be  faintly  distinguished  at  least  thirty- 
five  miles  distant.  We  headed  toward  this  straight 
over  the  sea  ice,  E-took-a-shoo  leading  all  day  long,  and 
setting  a  good  pace  with  the  help  of  a  large  sail  rigged 
to  the  back  of  his  sledge.  To  our  disappointment,  the 
snow  house  here  was  demolished,  compelling  us  to  re- 
build. It  was  one  of  the  pleasures  of  our  return  to  look 
forward  to  the  ready-built  house  at  the  end  of  the 
trail. 

Influenced  by  his  success  of  the  day  before  in  con- 
verting his  sledge  into  a  ship,  E-took-a-shoo  bravely 
set  his  square  sail  to  take  advantage  of  a  strong  fair 
wind.  Entering  a  long  lane  of  glassy  ice,  the  sledge 
fairly  ran  amuck,  with  E-took-a-shoo  holding  on  to  it 
like  a  leach  and  blowing  like  a  porpoise.  The  sledge 
plowed  through  the  dogs,  scattered  them  to  right  and 
left,  jibed  over,  whirled  crazily,  and  then  capsized. 
The  dogs  eyed  it  suspiciously  and  wondered  if  this  rapidly 
moving  animal  could  be  good  to  eat!  *. 

Our  igloo  at  Schei  Island,  with  its  glistening,  blue- 
tinted  walls,  and  the  warm  bed  and  floor  deep  with  furs, 
recalled  memories  of  the  five  happy  days  spent  there. 
Here  we  recovered  our  caribou-skin  sleeping-bags  left 
at  this  point  to  economize  on  weight.     For  thirty-three 


1914]   THE  RETURN  PROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        95 

days  we  had  slept  without  a  bag,  simply  lying  down  at 
the  end  of  the  day  in  the  clothes  in  which  we  walked. 

We  kept  at  the  work  for  eleven  hours  on  the  8th, 
reaching  our  old  camp  at  Blaamanden  following  an 
exciting  run  of  about  a  mile  in  pursuit  of  a  large  white 
wolf  which  managed  to  keep  just  out  of  gun-shot. 

Our  experience  the  next  day,  traveling  south,  is 
typical  of  northern  work,  and  most  interesting.  We 
became  separated  in  a  drifting  snow-storm  shortly  after 
leaving  camp,  and  did  not  see  one  another  until  night. 
Quoting  from  my  field-journal: 

Saturday,  May  9th.  Sixtieth  day. — ^A  long  fast  run  with  a  gale 
at  our  back.  It  has  been  so  thick  that  we  have  not  seen  each  other 
all  day.  Green  dashed  out  of  camp  ahead,  in  hopes  of  shooting  a 
bear.  About  a  mile  down  the  coast  I  passed  one  of  his  dogs,  too 
weak  to  go  on  and  left  to  die.  He  gave  out  yesterday  and  was 
dropped,  but  came  ia  dm-ing  the  night.  I  reached  for  my  rifle  to 
shoot  him  as  I  passed,  but  did  not  have  the  heart  to  kill  him  after 
such  faithful  work. 

When  I  had  run  my  distance,  according  to  my  watch,  fearing  lest 
I  might  miss  the  igloo,  I  stopp>ed  the  dogs  and  cUmbed  the  hill  to 
look  for  E-took-a-shoo  and  Green.  Through  a  rift  now  and  then 
could  be  seen,  far  off  on  the  ice,  a  black  object  resembling  a  sledge, 
side  to  the  wind,  with  dogs  partly  buried,  huddled  imder  the  lee. 
Up  the  coast  was  another  crawUng  dot  which  I  knew  must  be  E-took- 
a-shoo;  down  the  coast  a  short  distance  I  made  out  an  old  familiar 
pressure  ridge  and  what  resembled  an  igloo.  Up>on  E-took-a-shoo's 
rejoining  me,  he  looked  long  and  earnestly  through  my  glasses  at 
the  suspicious-looking  object  out  in  the  center  of  the  fiord,  but 
could  not  detect  the  faintest  resemblance  to  a  man,  sledge,  and 
dogs. 

We  proceeded  south  to  the  snow  house,  made  our  tea,  and  pre- 
pared  for  bed.  Worried  over  the  prolonged  absence  of  Green,  1 
mounted  the  igloo.  The  suspicious-looking  object  was  at  last  in 
motion.  Green  had  finished  his  nap  and  was  now  searching  for  oui 
trail,  which  was  readily  found  and  followed. 

A  very  laughable  incident  occurred  to-night.  One  of  my  fur  boots 
was  caught  by  the  wind  and  was  being  carried  rapidly  along  over 


06        POtm  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

the  smooth  ice  of  the  Sound.  E-took-a-shoo  ran  after  it  as  rapidly 
as  his  short  legs  would  permit.  My  dogs  awoke  with  a  start  after 
he  had  passed,  and  saw  the  queer,  fuzzy-looking  article  bounding  and 
leaping,  with  E-took-a-shoo  in  pursuit.  They  jumped,  tore  the 
eight-pound  tin  of  pemmican,  which  served  as  an  anchor,  out  of  the 
snow,  and  were  soon  at  full  sp)eed  on  the  heels  of  the  Eskimo.  Five 
of  the  leaping  dogs  passed  upon  one  side,  three  upon  the  other,  with 
the  most  imdignified  result.  When  the  knotted  traces  and  the 
boimding  tin  caught  E-took-a-shoo  back  of  the  heels,  he  didn't 
have  so  far  to  fall  as  some,  but  that  far  was  far  enough.  I 
noticed  that  he  arranged  a  very  soft  seat  on  his  sledge  the  next 
morning. 

We  arrived  at  the  head  of  Bay  Fiord  on  the  12th, 
after  a  continuous  twelve-and-three-quarter-hour  march 
on  snow-shoes  through  heavy  snow.  Poor  Green  had 
no  shoes,  having  lost  them  at  Cape  Thomas  Hubbard, 
and  arrived  an  hour  later  completely  exhausted. 

Added  to  my  troubles  was  the  enforced  fostering  of 
a  pup  born  that  morning  on  the  march  and  carried  on 
the  inside  of  my  shirt  against  my  body  to  keep  it  warm. 
If  that  pup  had  lived  it  would  have  traveled  in  circles 
for  the  rest  of  its  life!  It  crawled  around  my  body  forty 
times,  and  finally  wriggled  out  through  a  hole  in  the  back 
of  my  shirt.  And  after  all  this  care,  the  mother  refused 
to  accept  it  at  night! 

A  nine-hour  plodding  through  deep  snows  on  the 
14th,  up  over  the  hills  of  Ellesmere  Land,  brought  us  to 
what  resembled  the  bed  of  an  old  lake,  a  confluence  of 
glacial  streams  resulting  in  a  large  area  of  rolling  ice. 
Looking  back  through  and  over  the  black  serrated  peaks 
rising  out  of  snow-covered  valleys  and  winding  glaciers 
well  repaid  us  for  our  exhausting  work.  However  dif- 
ficult an  ascent  may  have  been  and  however  physically 
tired  the  body,  no  one  has  ever  yet  regretted  the  ex- 
penditure of  time  and  energy  necessary  in  lifting  one- 


1914]   THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA        97 

self  above  the  clouds  and  so  placing  the  world  at  one's 
feet. 

On  the  15th  we  ascended  to  the  summit  of  the  glacier, 
a  height  of  4,700  feet,  keeping  at  the  work  for  eleven 
and  a  half  hours  and  camping  well  down  on  the  eastern 
side,  following  an  exciting  run  during  which  Green 
overturned  and  smashed  his  sledge.  A  white  wolf  fol- 
lowed us  throughout  the  day,  and  at  night  sat  on  his 
haunches  at  a  respectable  distance,  interested  in  our 
making  camp. 

In  consideration  of  the  fact  that  we  were  approach- 
ing a  large  cache  of  pemmican,  I  decided  to  repay  the 
dogs  for  their  arduous  work  of  the  last  few  days,  and 
incidentally  surprise  them,  by  giving  to  each  two  and 
a  quarter  pounds  of  pemmican — more  than  a  double 
ration!  An  exclamation  from  E-took-a-shoo,  followed 
by  ** Tokowok!**  ("He  is  dead!"),  caused  me  to  look 
toward  a  dog  on  Green's  team  lying  on  his  side  with 
his  tail  wagging.  For  a  moment  I  concluded  this  to 
be  but  a  manifestation  of  extreme  and  satisfying  pleaS" 
ure  at  having  partaken  of  such  a  bountiful  repast.  A 
glance,  however,  at  the  size  of  his  throat  revealed  the 
startling  fact  that  he  was  so  sure  that  some  one  else 
would  want  that  big  piece  of  pemmican  that  for  safe 
keeping  he  had  bolted  the  whole  thing! 

Tracheotomy!  Green  had  always  wanted  to  do  it. 
Here  was  his  chance !  The  trachea  was  slit.  The  chest 
was  squeezed  and  contracted,  then  released  and  ex- 
panded. The  forelegs  were  stretched  high  over  the  dog's 
head,  and  then  pushed  forcibly  into  his  belly !  The  dog 
died,  undoubtedly  discouraged. 

Thirteen  hours'  sledging  on  the  16th,  ending  with 
some  careful  and  somewhat  dangerous  work  on  the 


98        FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

very  front  of  the  glacier,  completed  the  day.  The 
sweeping  winds  and  warm  spring  suns  had  removed  the 
snows  and  almost  polished  the  hard,  flinty  surface. 
Fearing  lest  our  sledges,  once  fairly  started  and  beyond 
control,  might  plunge  down  the  glacier  and  leap  off 
into  space,  landing  below,  a  complete  wreck,  we  slipped 
all  the  dogs,  overturned  the  sledges  to  increase  friction, 
and  placed  a  heavy  drag  far  in  the  rear.  We  coaxed 
them  carefully  along  inch  by  inch,  and  just  as  carefully 
lowered  them  to  the  sea  ice  below. 

Hayes  Sound  presented  very  heavy  going,  compelling 
us  to  resort  to  snow-shoes  throughout  the  day.  To 
our  surprise,  upon  reaching  the  site  of  our  old  cache  on 
the  ice  at  the  entrance  of  the  Sound,  there  was  hardly 
a  vestige  of  supplies  left !  One  hundred  miles  from  home 
and  no  promise  of  dog  food!  I  had  ordered  it  to  be 
moved  to  the  mainland,  and  the  order  had  evidently 
been  obeyed;  but  where  was  the  note  which  should  have 
been  left  informing  us  as  to  the  location  of  the  new 
cache?  A  thorough  search  failed  to  reveal  what  we 
were  looking  for. 

As  we  stood  together  outside  of  our  igloo,  puzzled 
to  know  what  course  to  pursue,  E-took-a-shoo  dis- 
covered three  sticks  in  alignment  projecting  above  the 
surface  of  the  snow  and  pointing  toward  the  land. 
He  hitched  up  his  dogs,  drove  away,  and  in  a  few 
hours  was  back  with  aU  our  personal  effects  and  a  load 
of  pemmican. 

As  we  crossed  Alexandra  Fiord  we  caught  our  firsl 
sight  of  the  Greenland  coast  through  and  over  the  heavy 
bank  of  mist  marking  open  water  in  Smith  Sound.  Just 
how  far  north  we  would  be  compelled  to  go  in  order  to 
cross  none  of  us  knew;   E-took-a-shoo,  judging  by  the 


1914]    THE  RETURN  FROM  THE  POLAR  SEA       99 

warm  weather  of  Eureka  Sound,  feared  that  it  might 
be  for  some  distance. 

The  19th  gave  us  our  last  drubbing.  Nothing  else 
would  have  ever  tempted  us  to  round  Cape  Rutherford 
that  day  but  a  can  of  jam  which  Ekblaw  had  promised 
to  leave  under  the  Svendson  cross  at  Sverdrup*s  old 
winter  quarters  in  Rice  Strait.  How  we  fought  against 
that  wind  and  smothering  drift,  fairly  choking  for 
breath!  The  dogs  quit  and  huddled  in  a  ball,  and  we 
took  shelter  in  the  lee  of  our  sledges  and  yelled  that 
ever-repeated  "Huk!  Huk!"  which  now,  after  four 
years,  we  should  be  yelling  in  our  sleep.  After  quarter- 
ing the  shore  in  vain  and  peering  underneath  every  sus- 
picious-looking pile  of  rocks,  we  ascended  the  hill  and 
removed  the  stones  from  beneath  the  cross,  yearning 
for  something  sweet.  How  a  man  craves  it!  Green 
declared  he  knew  he  could  drink  a  gallon  of  molasses! 
We  finally  sat  down  to  the  same  old  menu — tea,  biscuit, 
and  pemmican,  and  were  thankful  for  that. 

The  cross  near  which  we  pitched  our  tent  had  been 
erected  by  Sverdrup  and  his  men  in  memory  of  the 
ship's  doctor,  by  the  name  of  Svendson,  who  was  found 
dead  in  his  tent  at  Fort  Juliana  some  thirty  miles  west 
of  the  Fram.  His  body  was  brought  to  the  ship  and 
given  a  seaman's  burial  by  lowering  it  through  a  hole 
in  the  ice  of  Rice  Strait. 

From  this  point  a  rapid  run  brought  us  to  Peary's 
old  hut  at  Payer  Harbor,  which  I  entered  at  once,  ex- 
pecting to  find  two  cans  of  beans  biuied  in  the  north- 
western corner,  as  per  agreement.  My  eyes  nearly 
popped  out  upon  beholding  a  box  of  canned  peaches, 
pears,  and  marmalade!  The  beans  may  be  there  yet! 
Doctor  Hunt  had  visited  the  hut,  leaving  for  the  west- 


100      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [May 

ern  party,  as  I  had  requested,  a  few  delicacies  and  a 
note  containing  the  news  of  the  past  two  months. 
With  hands  and  faces  smeared  with  good  things  and 
with  eyes  and  noses  buried  in  the  can,  we  failed  to  de- 
tect the  approach  of  two  galloping  dog-teams.  E-took- 
a-shoo  must  have  had  his  nose  as  well  as  his  mouth 
filled  with  marmalade,  or  he  would  certainly  have 
smelled  that  fresh  seal  meat  with  which  the  dogs  and 
men  were  reeking.  It  was  the  first  real  foretaste  of  the 
summer. 

Although  late  in  the  year  and  the  ice  breaking  up, 
Ak-pood-a-shah-o  and  Oo-bloo-ya  had  crossed  the 
Sound  and  were  to  continue  over  the  heights  of  Elles- 
mere  Land  to  our  relief,  without  a  thought  of  their 
families  and  the  possibility  of  being  cut  off  from  home, 
thinking  possibly  that  we  had  lost  our  dogs  and  were 
slowly  plodding  homeward.  As  a  reward  for  such  faith- 
fulness I  concluded  that  nothing  was  too  good  for  these 
two  men;  and  that  so  long  as  we  were  in  the  North 
they  could  depend  upon  us  for  all  needed  supplies. 

Everything  was  transferred  to  their  sledges.  Our 
dogs,  but  shadows  of  their  former  selves,  wagged  their 
tails  upon  being  relieved  of  their  loads  by  their  fat 
brothers  just  from  home.  In  six  hours  we  were  on  the 
Greenland  shore,  headed  south  through  a  light,  soft 
snow.  Near  Cape  Hatherton,  Noo-ka-ping-wa,  a  dog 
of  excellent  spirit,  staggered  from  side  to  side  and  then 
dropped.  He  had  covered  his  1,400  miles  with  head'*and 
tail  up  and  was  always  pulling  when  the  others  quit. 
Now,  nearing  the  house,  he  seemed  to  say,  "Well,  I 
think  you  can  make  it  without  my  help,"  and  gave  up. 
Slipping  his  harness,  I  stroked  his  head  and  left  him, 
knowing  that  he  would  follow  on  when  he  had  renewed 


1914]    THE  RETURN  PROM  THE  POLAR  SEA      101 

his  strength.  He  was  curled  up  with  the  team  in  the 
morning. 

Before  we  reached  the  house  we  met  Jot  leaving  for 
the  North  on  a  seal-hunting  trip  with  old  Panikpa. 
We  learned  all  the  news:  He  had  killed  a  large  wolf 
near  our  front  door,  interesting  news,  considering  that 
a  white  wolf  had  not  been  seen  in  Greenland  for  a  half- 
century.  Kood-la-tin-a's  little  girl  had  been  strangled, 
having  playfully  hooked  her  sealskin  hood  over  the  up- 
stander  of  a  sledge.  The  only  child  and  the  only  pos- 
sible one,  I  knew  the  mother's  heart  must  be  broken. 
Poo-ad-loo-na  and  Jacob-shoo-na  had  been  carried  away 
on  an  ice  pan.  Jot  had  built  an  ice-boat,  so  novel  and 
so  fast  that  reports  of  this  wonderful  production  of  a 
white  man  have  become  exaggerated  with  the  distance 
and  with  the  years.  As  old  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  ex- 
claimed : 

"It  goes  like  the  very  devil  and  doesn't  have  to  be 
fed!" 


VI 

WORK  AT   BORUP   LODGE 

'IXT'HEN  Ekblaw  left  me  in  Bay  Fiord  on  March  23d 
^^  and  returned  to  Etah  with  his  frosted  feet,  I 
gave  him  instructions  for  work  following  his  recovery. 
He  was  absolutely  free  to  come  and  go  whenever  he 
pleased,  and  to  help  himseK  to  any  or  all  of  the  equip- 
ment and  supplies.  He  was  to  plan  for  whatever  work 
he  deemed  most  valuable  for  the  interests  of  himself 
and  the  expedition.  He  had  concluded  that  a  delinea- 
tion of  the  unknown  coast-line  of  Princess  Marie  Bay 
offered  the  greatest  inducement  for  the  expenditure  of 
his  time  and  efforts;  and  in  this  I  had  agreed  with 
him. 

To  my  surprise,  I  now  learned  that  he  and  Tanquary 
had  been  persuaded  by  Freuchen,  the  Danish  trader, 
that  his  home  at  North  Star  Bay  was  an  Arctic  paradise, 
whereupon  they  had  gone  south  for  geological  and 
zoological  work,  with  the  intention  of  returning  during 
the  summer  in  Freuchen*s  power-boat.  ^ 

With  the  breaking  up  of  the  sea  ice  and  the  melting 
of  the  land  snows,  our  sledging-days  were  over  for  about 
four  months.  During  this  warm  period  we  planned 
work  in  ornithology,  geology,  botany,  zoology,  map- 
work,  and  photography.     And  at  the  same  time  we 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  103 

kept  in  mind  the  needed  daily  supply  of  fresh  meat  and 
its  methodical  accmnulation  for  the  following  winter. 

One  of  the  great  surprises  of  the  Northland  is  its 
enormous  bird  life,  always  heralded  by  two  wheeling 
white  dots  high  in  the  heavens  outlined  against  the  deep 
blue  of  the  sky. 

It  is  a  warm  day  in  the  Eskimo  village.  The  sun  is 
high.  Summer  has  come.  Traces  of  water  are  seen  on 
the  surface  of  black  rocks.  Dogs  are  stretched  out  at 
full  length.  The  quietness  and  peace  of  the  big  fiord 
is  broken  only  by  the  voices  of  children  hunting  imagi- 
nary seals  among  the  rough  shore  ice.  Suddenly  ring- 
ing out  loud  and  clear  comes  the  glad  cry:  "Ta-koo! 
Nau-yuck-suit!'*  ("Look!  The  glaucous  gulls!**).  No- 
mads of  the  sea,  they  have  come  from  their  southern 
winter  homes,  two  and  even  three  thousand  miles  dis- 
tant, unerringly  back  to  their  birthplace  in  the  Arctic. 

The  big  burgomaster,  or  glaucous  gull  (Larus  hyper- 
horeus)  seems  to  be  an  integral  part  of  the  Northland. 
Bold,  strong,  and  vigorous,  he  sweeps  along  the  face  of 
the  vertical  black  cliffs  on  outstretched  wings,  fully  con- 
fident of  his  power  to  secure  subsistence  and  to  battle 
against  wind  and  snow.  The  first  to  come  and  the  last 
to  go,  we  welcome  and  we  miss  them. 

Another  white  bird  on  the  cliff  catches  the  eye.  The 
rapid  beat  of  the  wings  identifies  it  at  once  as  the  courser 
of  the  North — the  gyrfalcon  (Falco  islandus).  This  bird 
stands  as  the  dominant  king  of  Northern  bird-land, 
fearless,  aggressive,  and  the  swiftest  of  all.  In  lonely 
and  inaccessible  places  it  builds  its  nest,  scorning  the 
friendship  of  bird  or  man.  Although  the  gyrfalcon  lived 
within  two  miles  of  our  house,  we  rarely  saw  it.  A 
rapid  white  dash  and  the  bird  was  gone.    Its  tremendous 


104      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [June 

activity,  however,  and  its  voracious  appetite  were 
strikingly  apparent  in  the  enormous  pile  of  wing  and 
leg  bones  of  the  dovekie  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the 
nest.  The  remains  of  black  guillemots,  ptarmigan,  and 
even  eider  ducks  all  testify  to  the  strength,  the  swift- 
ness, and  the  aggressiveness  of  this  energetic  bird. 

Vivacity  is  the  chief  characteristic  of  the  sea-pigeon 
or  Mandt's  guillemot  {Cepphus  mandti).  Dabbling,  div- 
ing, and  perking  their  heads,  skittering  from  the  water 
with  pattering  red  feet,  these  sprightly  birds  are  found 
in  every  jwol  and  all  along  the  edge  of  the  ice.  With  a 
rush  they  are  off  with  rocking  bodies;  but  they  soon 
return  with  a  graceful  sweep,  outstretched  feet,  and 
happy-go-lucky  splash.  A  lover  of  the  North  and  un- 
mindful of  violent  winds,  stormy  seas,  driving  snows, 
and  freezing  slush,  the  sea-pigeon  remains,  strange  to 
relate,  in  the  oj>en  waters  of  Smith  Sound  throughout 
the  dark  winter  night.  This  bird  has  been  seen  every 
month  in  the  year.  We  saw  it  late  in  the  fall  in  the 
semi-darkness  and  early  in  the  spring  in  the  increasing 
twilight.  Many  and  many  a  time  it  seemed  to  be  the 
only  animate  thing  outside  of  our  dogs  and  ourselves 
in  that  frozen  world.     We  blessed  it  for  its  presence. 

The  northern  eider  duck  (Somaieria  mollissima  bore- 
alis)  is  of  the  highest  value  to  the  northern  Eskimo. 
Weighing  three  and  a  half  j>ounds  each  and  a  single  egg 
three  and  a  half  ounces,  their  food  value  is  considerable. 
Incredible  numbers  of  these  birds  arrive  at  Etah  ^bout 
May  13th.  The  waters,  the  edge  of  the  ice,  and  the  numer- 
ous islands  about  Etah  are  fairly  dotted  with  their  bodies. 
The  soft  and  melodious  mating  cry  of  "Ah-6o.  ,  .  . 
AJi-60.  .  .  .  Coo-c6o.  .  .  .  Coo-c6o,*'  is  heard  day  and 
night.     There  is  a  continuous  flight  of  birds  around  and 


19141  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  105 

about  Sunrise  Point,  Littleton,  Eider  Duck  Islands,  and 
MeGary*s  Rock. 

How  impatiently  we  awaited  the  discovery  of  those 
first  golden  nuggets  in  the  nests!  Can  we  ever  forget 
those  annual  pilgrimages  to  the  shrine  at  historic  Little- 
ton and  Eider  Duck  Islands  and  McGary's  Rock !  Here, 
among  a  laughing,  jolly  company  of  men,  women,  and 
children,  we  pitched  our  tents  among  the  nests;  we 
boiled  eggs,  and  we  fried  eggs,  and  we  scrambled  eggs, 
and  we  shirred  eggs,  and  we  did  everything  to  eggs! 
In  a  few  hours  4,000  delicious  fresh  eggs  were  gathered 
from  one  small  island  alone.  Cached  beneath  the 
rocks,  away  from  the  direct  rays  of  the  sun,  they  remain 
perfectly  fresh;  they  become  chilled  in  August;  and 
freeze  hard  as  so  many  rocks  in  September — a  much- 
appreciated  delicacy  during  the  long  winter  months. 
The  shells  are  often  broken  and  the  contents  poured  or 
squirted  from  the  mouth  of  the  Eskimo  into  the  intesti- 
nal sheath  of  the  bearded  seal  or  the  walrus,  a  most 
nutritious  sausage  to  be  eaten  on  the  long  sledge  trips. 

The  breeding-place  of  the  brant  {Branta  bemicla 
glaucogastra)  has  often  been  the  subject  of  inquiry  when 
conversing  with  sportsmen.  We  found  it  in  consider- 
able niunbers  on  Sutherland  Island  near  Cape  Alexander, 
and  upon  both  Littleton  and  Eider  Duck  Islands,  five 
miles  north  of  Etah.  The  nest,  containing  from  four 
to  six  white  eggs,  resembles  in  every  particular  that  of 
the  eider.  The  down  with  which  the  nest  is  lined  may 
be  a  little  lighter  in  color. 

But  what  is  that  great,  pulsating,  musical  note  which 
seems  at  times  to  fill  all  space?  Now  loud  and  clear, 
now  diminishing  to  a  low  distant  hum !  The  sound  pro- 
claims the  arrival  of  a  true  representative  of  the  bird 


106      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [June 

life  of  the  Arctic,  the  most  interesting  and  the  most 
valuable  of  all,  the  bird  which  means  so  much  to  the 
Smith  Sound  native — the  dovekie  or  little  auk  (Alle  alle). 

The  long,  dark  winter  has  at  last  passed  away.  The 
larder,  open  to  all,  is  empty.  The  sun  is  mounting 
higher  into  the  heavens  day  by  day.  Now  and  then  a 
seal  is  seen  sunning  himself  at  his  hole.  The  Eskimos 
are  living  from  hand  to  mouth.  And  then,  that  glad 
cry,  relieving  all  anxiety  for  the  future,  bringing  joy 
to  every  heart:  *' Ark-pood-e-ark-suit!  Ark-pood-e-ark- 
suitr  ("Little  auks!    Little  auks!"). 

As  a  boy  I  had  found  this  little  wanderer,  weak  and 
emaciated,  on  the  coldest  and  shortest  days  of  winter 
washed  up  by  the  billows  on  the  back  shores  of  Cape 
Cod.  Pine  knots,  the  fishermen  called  them,  and  to 
my  question,  "Where  do  they  come  from.?"  they  could 
give  no  reply.  Little  did  I  think  then  that  their  home 
was  in  the  shadow  of  the  Pole,  and  that  on  the  first  day 
of  August,  thirty  years  later,  high  up  on  the  summit 
of  Bushman  Island  in  a  driving  snow-storm,  I  should 
be  making  wild  sweeps  with  an  Eskimo  dip-net  in  my 
endeavor  to  ensnare  a  few  for  supper! 

As  the  numberless  black-and-white  bodies  wheel  out 
from  the  talus-covered  cliffs  into  the  fiord,  they  resemble 
nothing  so  much  as  a  gigantic  swarm  of  bees,  now  black, 
now  a  glittering  white,  as  their  breasts  reflect  the  rays 
of  the  sun. 

Laughing  women  and  children,  in  anticipation  of  the 
feast,  hastily  gather  up  their  nets  and  sealskin  bags. 
Pups,  pets,  and  cripples  are  harnessed  to  father's  old 
sledge,  and  the  caravan  is  off  for  the  day.  Once  at  the 
rookery,  the  mother  takes  her  position  in  one  of  the 
various  holes  in  the  talus  used  by  her  ancestors  through 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  107 

the  centuries,  and  is  soon  busily  engaged  in  sweeping 
the  air,  swinging  the  long  twelve-foot  pole,  terminating 
in  a  dip-net  some  fifteen  inches  in  diameter,  for  hours 
and  hours,  often  netting  with  one  sweep  ten  and  twelve 
birds.  In  the  mean  time,  the  children,  early  trained  in 
accuracy  of  stone-throwing,  are  continually  adding  their 
quota,  or  can  be  seen,  feet  and  legs  up,  fairly  standing 
on  their  heads  in  their  endeavor  to  reach  the  single 
white  egg  deposited  deep  in  the  rocks. 

Many  of  these  birds  are  eaten  raw  on  the  spot,  each 
Eskimo  consuming  ten  and  twelve;  and  many  are  boiled 
in  soapstone  and  iron  kettles;  while  thousands  are 
cached,  uncleaned,  to  season  for  the  midwinter  feasts. 
The  skins  are  sucked  to  remove  the  fat,  softened  by 
rubbing,  and  then  cut  and  sewed  together  into  warm 
birdskin  shirts  once  so  common,  but  now  replaced  by 
the  white  man's  shirt  of  the  trade-list. 

May,  June,  July,  and  August  are  the  harvest  days, 
for  "the  time  cometh  when  no  man  can  work."  Active, 
energetic,  full  of  life  and  the  love  of  life,  the  Smith 
Sound  native  is  out  of  bed,  kayak  launched,  and  away, 
his  piercing,  dark-brown  eyes,  set  in  a  frame  of  straight, 
jet-black  hair,  noting  every  ripple  or  movement  upon 
the  water;  he  is  in  search  of  the  walrus.  It  is  a  won- 
derful sight  to  see  the  flash  and  dip  of  that  paddle,  the 
speed  of  that  black,  clean-cut  body,  the  graceful  curve 
of  the  flying  harpoon,  the  mighty  splash  of  a  large  herd 
of  monster  walrus! 

It  is  not  sport  to  shoot  musk-oxen  rounded  up  by 
your  dogs  and  huddling  and  trembling  with  fear.  Nor 
is  it  sport  to  pump  a  bullet  into  the  silvery-white  body 
of  a  polar  bear  held  at  bay  by  fifty  and  sixty  dogs. 
Necessity  for  meat  is  one's  only  excuse  for  such  slaughter. 


108      FOUR  YEAHS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [June 

But  get  into  a  twenty-inch  skin  boat,  only  nine  inches 
in  depth,  and  dash  at  a  bull  walrus  weighing  a  ton. 
With  no  help  from  dogs  or  man,  put  your  skill,  your 
strength,  your  nerve  against  those  long  ivory  tusks 
and  the  remarkable  quickness  of  that  ponderous  body. 
An  accurate  knowledge  of  the  temperament  and  the 
characteristics  of  a  wild  animal  has  saved  many  a 
hunter.  Uncertainty  as  to  action,  however,  is  written 
all  over  a  walrus,  as  shown  by  the  large  number  of 
casualties  incurred  in  the  chase. 

In  Spitzbergen,  some  years  ago,  a  herd  assumed  the 
offensive,  upon  being  attacked,  capsized  the  boat,  and 
killed  every  man.  In  1908  a  bull  walrus  attacked 
Sipsoo,  an  Etah  native,  capsized  his  kayak,  cut  his 
throat,  and  left  him  for  dead.  In  1910,  Arklio,  one  of 
the  best  and  most  skilful  hunters  in  the  tribe,  was  at- 
tacked and  nearly  lost  his  life.  The  walrus  whipped 
around  when  harpooned,  rushed  at  Arklio,  and  drove 
his  tusk  completely  through  his  arm.  In  1908  some 
fifty  walrus  attacked  our  whale-boat,  undeterred  by  the 
frightful  yells  of  the  thoroughly  terrified  natives,  who 
were  beating  the  rails  and  water  with  oars,  and  the 
crash  of  a  stream  of  bullets  from  my  Winchester  auto- 
matic and  Borup's  powerful  Mauser.  Two  of  the  ani- 
mals succeeded  in  hooking  their  tusks  over  the  rail. 
The  following  year  in  a  similar  attack  one  broke  through 
the  bottom  of  the  boat.  No,  the  fighting  qualities  of 
a  walrus  are  truly  to  be  respected,  and  dealt  with '^ac- 
cordingly. Each  year  our  natives  secured  between 
fifty  and  one  hundred  of  these  great  brutes,  the  very 
best  of  rich  red  meat  for  themselves  and  dogs,  a  guar- 
antee of  strength  for  the  long  white  trail  leading  to  un- 
explored lands,  the  main  object  of  our  expedition.    All 


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NETTING    DOVEKIES    AT    THE    RATE    OF    ONE    A    MINUTE 


19141  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  109 

work  during  the  summer  must  be  subordinate  to  the 
all-important  task  of  meat  getting. 

We  depended  for  our  coats,  boots,  and  mittens  upon 
seals  secured  upon  the  ice  in  May  by  creeping  behind 
a  white  sail  fastened  to  a  small  sledge;  during  the  sum- 
mer they  are  shot  with  the  rifle  from  the  kayak. 

We  kept  careful  watch  day  and  night  over  our  house 
and  equipment,  and  our  meteorological  observations 
went  on  without  interruption.  Both  Doctor  Hunt  and 
Small  were  keen  hunters.  The  former  supplied  our 
table  with  seal  meat,  and  the  latter  with  eider  duck, 
black  guillemot,  and  murre,  many  of  which  were  pre- 
pared as  specimen  skins  for  the  American  Museum. 
On  the  20th  of  June  Hunt  surprised  and  pleased  us  all 
by  appearing  at  midnight  with  the  hindquarters  of  a 
caribou  around  his  neck.  He  had  beaten  the  Eskimos 
at  their  own  game;  no  one  had  secured  a  caribou  at 
Etah  for  years. 

Jerome  Allen  deserves  the  very  highest  praise  for 
his  indefatigable  efforts  to  establish  communications 
with  home  through  his  wireless  apparatus.  He  was  by 
far  the  hardest  worker  of  the  expedition  from  the  time 
that  he  landed  upon  the  beach  until  I  bade  him  good- 
by  two  years  later.  Handicapped  by  a  constitution 
which  failed  him  repeatedly,  he  was  ever  enthusiastic, 
and  did  not  give  up  hope  until  every  expedient  had  been 
tested  which  he  could  devise  with  the  material  available. 
Within  twenty-one  days  after  our  floor  timbers  were  in 
place  he  had  assembled  his  engine,  wired  the  switch- 
board, storage  batteries,  and  house,  and  had  snapped 
the  button — presto !  the  house  was  flooded  with  electric 
lights!  Under  his  direction,  with  the  help  of  the  boys, 
wires  were  strung  from  the  top  of  the  hill  in  the  rear  of 


110      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [June 

the  house,  across  the  river  valley  to  the  heights  east. 
Yet  after  all  this  effort  not  a  rewarding  buzz  was  heard ! 
A  rattle,  bang,  snap,  and  crash,  the  voices  of  the  terrific 
winds  sweeping  down  from  the  Greenland  ice-cap  out  to 
sea,  were  the  only  answer  to  his  appeal. 

Confident  that  results  could  be  obtained  by  using 
kite  wire  as  an  aerial,  Allen  expended  many  weeks  of 
hard  labor  in  building  and  flying  huge  box-kites;  but 
the  experiment  failed,  because  of  winds  uncertain  both 
in  force  and  in  direction.  Confident  again  that  if  a  sub- 
station could  be  established  on  one  of  the  outer  islands, 
remote  from  the  counter  influence  of  the  big  hills  back- 
ing Borup  Lodge,  results  would  certainly  be  obtained, 
he  requested  a  trial.  With  the  help  of  our  motor-boat, 
whale-boat,  and  the  Eskimos,  all  the  electrical  and  wire- 
less equipment  was  transferred  to  Starr  Island,  some 
two  miles  southwest  from  the  lodge.  Here,  with  the 
help  of  Ensign  Green,  a  small  house  was  built  and  the 
equipment  installed,  with  the  same  negative  results. 

The  boys,  both  ambitious  for  study,  found  this  little 
home,  warm  and  well  stocked  with  food,  so  cozy  and 
comfortable  that  they  preferred  its  comparative  quiet- 
ness to  the  company  of  the  white  men  and  the  fun-loving 
Eskimos.  This  happy  decision  was  a  distinct  advantage 
to  the  expedition  in  that  it  served  as  an  objective  for 
our  daily  walk,  and  also  as  a  meteorological  sub-station, 
where  conditions  were  at  times  so  different  as  to  be  al- 
most uncanny.  As  an  illustration:  Starting  from  om* 
house  one  day  with  the  thermometer  at  -24  F.,  there 
was  a  sharp  division  line  about  half-way  to  the  island, 
where  the  temi>erature  dropped  to  -40.  This  remark- 
able change  was  very  evident  upon  two  other  occasions. 
Undoubtedly  our  temperatures  at  Borup  Lodge,  right 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  ill 

at  the  base  of  the  big  hills  over  which  the  wind  flowed 
from  the  heights  of  the  10,000-foot  ice-cap  of  Green- 
land, were  influenced  considerably  by  adiabatic  heating. 

On  June  27th  all  our  Eskimos  arrived  from  the  region 
of  the  Humboldt  Glacier,  bringing  with  them  four  polar 
bears.  As  his  contribution,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  presented 
me  with  a  long-tailed  jaeger  which  he  had  caught  in  his 
hand  by  reaching  up  over  the  edge  of  the  ice-foot  as 
it  was  feeding!  Considering  how  alert  the  bird  is,  this 
was  indeed  a  remarkable  feat.  Oo-bloo-ya  brought  the 
egg  of  an  ivory  gull;  although  broken,  it  was  highly 
prized  as  being  the  only  one  in  our  collection. 

But  the  best  gift  of  all  was  brought  back  by  Ah-now- 
ka — a  yellow,  faded  record  of  the  Elisha  Kent  Kane 
Expedition  of  sixty-one  years  before,  bearing  the  date 
of  August  24,  1853.  Referring  to  his  book,  we  find 
that  on  this  day  the  little  brig  Advance  was  being 
tracked  along  the  ice-foot  on  her  way  north.  On 
August  23d  Doctor  Kane  sent  out  "Messrs.  Wilson, 
Petersen,  and  Bonsall  to  inspect  a  harbor  which  seems 
to  lie  between  a  small  island  and  a  valley  that  forms 
the  inner  slope  of  our  bay."  The  name  of  Bonsall  could 
be  deciphered,  which  would  indicate  that  the  record 
was  placed  there  by  this  party. 

A  few  days  later,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  not  to  be  out- 
done by  his  nephew,  Ah-now-ka,  placed  in  my  hands 
two  very  valuable  records  of  Doctor  Kane,  an  old  cap- 
lining  and  a  sheet  of  heavy  paper  on  which  was  cut 
with  the  point  of  a  knife:  "All  well.  Kane.  Aug.  29, 
'53.  Gone  south.  78°  40'."  Across  the  bottom  of  the 
paper  can  be  deciphered  with  diflSculty  a  large  "Kane," 
which  might  have  been  made  with  a  pointed  stick  or 
the  point  of  a  bullet. 


112      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [June 
The  following  is  the  entry  for  that  date  in  his  book: 

In  the  morning  of  the  29th,  Mr.  Brooks,  McGary,  and  myself 
walked  fourteen  miles  along  the  marginal  ice;  it  was  heavy  and  com- 
plicated with  drift,  but  there  was  nothing  about  it  to  make  me  change 
my  purpose. 

His  purpose  was  to  return  to  the  ship  and  organize 
a  boat  party  to  advance  north,  which  explains  the 
"Gone  south"  in  the  record. 

Page  58  also  aids  us  in  an  understanding  of  the 
record: 

I  erected  a  small  beacon  cairn  on  the  point;  and  as  I  had  neither 
paper,  pencil,  nor  pennant,  I  burned  a  "K"  with  powder  on  the 
rock,  and  scratching  "O.K."  with  a  pointed  bullet  on  my  cap- 
lining,  hoisted  it  as  the  representative  of  a  flag. 

He  hoisted  this  makeshift  flag  on  August  29th,  one 
mile  above  Fog  Inlet,  which  he  subsequently  renamed 
Refuge  Harbor.  The  "O.K."  can  still  be  seen.  To 
think  that  we  held  in  our  hands  a  record  and  the  cap- 
lining  of  the  first  American  Arctic  explorer!  Actual 
relics  of  the  author  of  a  book  which  has  caused  many 
a  lad  to  neglect  his  studies  and  dream  and  dream  of 
sledges,  dogs,  snow-shoes,  and  the  North  trail!  I  felt 
that  we  were  almost  shaking  hands  with  the  immortal 
Kane. 

June  29th  was  an  important  day  in  the  life  of  one  little 
chap,  for  on  that  day  he  announced  his  arrival  in  un- 
mistakable tones.  And  he  had  come  without  the  pro- 
fessional skill  of  learned  doctors,  the  smell  of  ether  or 
chloroform,  or  the  tender  care  of  a  high-priced  nurse. 
The  mother,  a  healthy  animal,  attended  to  the  child 
and  was  up  and  about  in  a  few  hours. 


THE    NIAGARA    OF    NORTH    GREENLAND 

The  sound  of  falling  water  is  heard  up  and  down  the  coast  during  the  warm  months  of  June, 

July,  and  August. 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  113 

Eskimo  children  are  born  under  most  amazing  con- 
ditions and  in  remote  and  strange  places — on  islands 
when  hunting  ducks'  eggs,  far  back  on  the  hills  in  pur- 
suit of  caribou,  and  even  on  the  trail,  with  father  seated 
on  his  dog-sledge,  patiently  waiting  and  watching  the 
little  maternity  hospital  quickly  fashioned  for  the 
occasion  out  of  blocks  of  snow. 

Thoughts  of  our  country  far  away  to  the  south  would 
not  permit  us  to  pass  Independence  Day  unnoticed. 
Miserable  weather,  however,  prevented  us  from  carrying 
out  the  program  of  races  we  had  planned,  and  com- 
pelled us  to  resort  to  a  simple  flag-raising  in  recognition 
of  the  day. 

Our  meat  menu  was  pleasurably  varied  at  this  time 
by  the  substitution  of  seventeen  magnificent  salmon  trout 
{Salvelinus  stagnalis)  caught  in  Alida  Lake  by  Arklio, 
E-took-a-shoo,  and  Jot.  The  largest  measured  twenty- 
eight  inches  and  weighed  four  and  three-quarter  pounds. 

By  the  middle  of  July  the  grass  was  long  and  green 
and  the  ground  was  fairly  dotted  with  flowers.  Within 
one  minute's  walk  from  our  door  I  counted  eighteen  dif- 
ferent varieties.  With  the  thermometer  at  sixty  above 
and  the  warm  rays  of  the  ever-circling  sun,  a  wonder- 
ful transformation  takes  place  in  the  character  of  that 
far-northern  country.  The  snow  disappears  as  if  by 
magic.  The  sound  of  falling  and  flowing  water  is  heard 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land.  The 
sea  ice  is  pitted  and  covered  with  pools  of  water,  and 
is  continually  breaking  into  large  sheets  and  disappear- 
ing over  the  southern  horizon.  The  air  vibrates  with 
the  whirring  of  the  wings  of  countless  birds,  the  sea 
teems  with  life,  and  the  ground  is  covered  with  beds  of 
beautiful  flowers.     One  realizes  that  the  "White  North" 


114      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [July 

is  not  all  snow  and  ice;  as  elsewhere,  the  sun  means  life, 
full  and  abundant. 

On  August  5th  our  harbor  was  free  of  ice,  enabling 
us  to  launch  our  tliirty-foot  power-boat.  I  had  worried 
considerably  for  several  weeks  over  Ekblaw  and  Tan- 
quary,  believing  that  all  was  not  quite  so  rosy  at  Umanak 
as  pictured  by  the  Danish  trader.  True,  they  had 
planned  and  outfitted  their  own  trip  with  all  the  equip- 
ment and  supplies  of  the  expedition  at  their  command, 
yet  I  felt  that  a  relief  party  might  be  welcome. 

On  the  9th  we  were  off  through  large  fields  of  ice 
with  our  12-H.P.  Wolverine  engine  working  like  a  clock, 
bound  south  for  North  Star  Bay,  120  miles  distant. 
In  six  hours  we  were  at  the  village  of  Nerky,  where  we 
found  six  tupiks  inhabited  by  twenty-two  people,  all 
of  whom,  ill-clothed,  dirty,  and  greasy,  were  in  marked 
contrast  to  our  hair-combed,  face-washed,  cloth-clad, 
cigar-smoking  Eskimos.  The  change  brought  about  by 
a  year's  contact  with  white  men  was  hardly  credible. 

At  Ig-loo-da-houney,  poor  E-lay-ting-wa  sat  in  her 
home  with  bowed  head  and  tear-filled  eyes,  mourning 
over  the  death  of  her  only  little  one,  just  as  dear  to  the 
heart  of  the  savage  as  it  would  be  to  the  civilized  mother. 

Skirting  the  shore  below  Cape  Parry  to  avoid  heavy 
sea  ice  stretching  to  the  southern  horizon,  we  passed 
but  a  few  yards  from  the  hut  at  Booth  Inlet  erected  by 
the  retreat  party  from  the  Advance,  locked  in  the  ice  of 
Rensselaer  Harbor.  These  men,  wearied  by  the  monot* 
ony  of  the  Arctic,  and  lacking  the  moral  strength,  when 
hardships  came,  to  stand  by  their  leader,  preferred  the 
risks  of  a  southward  journey  in  two  small  boats  rather 
than  remain  for  another  winter. 

And  what  hardships  they  experienced!     And  at  last. 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  115 

confronted  squarely  by  the  consequences  of  their  poor 
judgment  and  unreasonableness,  they  drove  back  to  the 
ship  to  be  fed  and  administered  to  by  Kane  and  those 
who  had  remained  loyal. 

We  found  North  Star  Bay  packed  with  ice,  offering 
but  little  evidence  of  a  lead  to  Umanak,  where  our  two 
men  were  supposed  to  be  living.  Working  to  the  west- 
ward and  zigzagging  to  the  right  and  left,  the  boat  crept 
ever  nearer,  arriving  at  our  destination  on  the  afternoon 
of  the  11th.  Tanquary  was  soon  on  board,  and  the 
story  was  quickly  told  and  verified  by  his  very  apparent 
loss  of  weight.  Lack  of  food,  coupled  with  their  anx- 
iety over  the  uncertainty  of  their  return  home,  had 
left  their  marks.  Thoughts  of  Etah  with  its  well- 
stocked  larder  had  been  with  them  constantly.  They 
saved  even  prune  stones,  cracking  them  and  eating  the 
contents!  A  real  full  meal  was  only  a  dream  and  a 
distant  hope.  Within  a  few  minutes  Ekblaw  came  fairly 
tumbling  from  a  botanical  trip  among  the  hills,  with 
his  usually  happy  face  looking  considerably  more  so. 
Seated  on  top  of  our  cabin,  how  they  did  enjoy  those 
buckwheat  cakes!  And  then,  filled  to  repletion  and 
with  faces  sticky  with  syrup,  they  both  asked: 

**WTien  are  we  going  home.'^" 

"Right  now;  just  as  soon  as  we  can  get  out,'*  was 
the  satisfactory  reply.  Plowing  northward  through 
rain,  wind,  and  ice,  in  twenty  hours  we  were  back  at 
Etah,  stopping  a  few  minutes  at  Cape  Henson  for 
water. 

On  the  21st,  in  an  attempt  to  cross  Smith  Sound 
through  running  ice,  we  nearly  lost  our  power-boat. 
Upon  approaching  Littleton  Island,  headed  west,  we 
were  tempted  by  a  narrow  lead  to  gain  a  large  expanse 


116      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [Aug. 

of  blue  water  which  was  a  half-mile  distant.  It  was  a 
race  between  our  engine  and  the  hard,  bluish  -  white, 
relentless  jaws  of  a  slowly  closing  trap.  The  trap  won. 
The  boat  was  lifted  almost  completely  out  of  water  and 
rolled  over  on  her  side  on  the  pan.  The  lift  saved  her. 
When  the  pressure  relaxed  somewhat,  we  chopped  the 
ice  away  with  axes  and  gently  lowered  her  back  again 
into  the  water.  Wlien  the  engine  was  started,  she  ran 
around  in  circles,  like  a  crippled  duck,  until  the  cause 
was  discovered — a  badly  twisted  rudder,  which,  when 
properly  adjusted,  steered  us  straight  back  to  Etah. 
We  had  had  enough  for  one  day. 

On  the  23d,  Jot  and  Ekblaw  received  instructions  to 
proceed  south  with  our  Eskimos  in  the  power-boat  to 
Sulwuddy,  where  they  were  to  hunt  walrus  and  seal 
and  bring  all  the  meat  in  cache  to  Etah. 

A  heavy  snow-storm  on  August  25th  was  followed  by 
a  strange  quietness  which  reigned  throughout  the  fiord. 
Our  cheerful  neighbors,  the  little  auks,  had  gone  south — 
conclusive  proof  of  the  drawing  to  an  end  of  our  long, 
delightful  summer. 

The  30th  was  a  red-letter  day.  A  number  of  them, 
in  fact!  I  received  sixty-two!  Our  power-boat  chug- 
chugged  into  the  harbor  loaded  with  dogs,  boxes,  and 
mail.  Just  below  Cai>e  Alexander  the  boys  had  met 
Peter  Freuchen,  Danish  trader  at  North  Star  Bay, 
bound  for  Etah  with  Ekblaw's  dogs,  which  he  had  left 
at  Umanak,  and  with  mail  from  home  via  Copenhag^, 
Denmark,  by  means  of  Rasmussen's  ship,  which  had 
lately  arrived  at  the  trading-station,  120  miles  to  the 
south.  A  heavy  wind  and  rough  sea  compelled  Freuchen 
to  give  up  the  attempt  and  to  transfer  everything  to  our 
boat. 


1914J  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  117 

Naturally,  our  letters  and  newspapers,  the  first  for 
a  year,  were  very  interesting,  informing  us  of  our  trouble 
with  Mexico,  the  loss  of  Stefansson's  ship,  the  Karluk^ 
the  discovery  of  Nicholas  II  Land,  the  plans  of  Sir 
Ernest  Shackleton  for  crossing  Antarctica,  the  political 
situation  at  home,  and  the  discovery  of  a  river  by 
Colonel  Roosevelt  in  South  America.  The  conflicting 
exclamations  and  news  announcements  coming  from  the 
four  bedrooms  were  a  bit  laughable: 

"Harvard  beat  Yale  fifteen  to  five!" 

"Cook  says  we  are  here  to  steal  his  records!" 

"My  brother  broke  both  legs  above  the  ankle!" 

"Oh,  my!  but  that  is  a  great  baby!" 

**My  wife  wants  me  to  come  home!" 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  a  few  days  following  the 
receipt  of  this  mail  nearly  every  man  contracted  a  severe 
cold!  Undoubtedly  the  germs  of  civilization,  would-be 
Arctic  explorers,  had  survived  the  six  thousand  miles 
of  sea  travel  with  our  letters  and  were  now  at  "Farthest 
North.**    Letters  to  outposts  should  be  disinfected. 

We  read  our  letters  over  and  over  again,  and  then 
again  buckled  down  to  work,  every  pleasant  day  finding 
us  out  in  om*  power-boat,  quartering  the  sea  in  search 
of  walrus,  running  north  as  far  as  Cape  Hatherton  and 
south  to  Cape  Chalon.  Slush  in  the  water  on  the  23d 
warned  us  of  a  probable  freezing  over  of  the  harbor, 
and  our  power-boat  was  hauled  up  for  the  winter. 

The  annual  pilgrimage  to  the  caribou-grounds  some 
fifty  miles  north  took  place  as  usual,  the  Eskimos  and 
Doctor  Hunt  leaving  on  September  10th,  and  returning 
on  the  23d  with  forty-two  warm  skins,  invaluable  for 
bed-robes,  coats,  and  sleeping-bags  for  the  extreme  tem- 
peratures to  come.     Such  good  luck  inspired  Tanquary 


118      FOUR  YEARS  IN   THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Sept. 

and  Jot  to  start  north  the  next  day  with  Oo-bloo-ya 
and  Arklio. 

In  the  mean  tune  our  younger  Eskimo  boys  were  con- 
tinually bringing  in  from  the  hills  hare  and  ptarmigan, 
the  skins  of  the  former  being  valued  highly  for  our 
winter  stockings.  Kai-we-ark-suah  preferred  the  use  of 
his  .22-cal.  rifle  to  the  shot-gun.  Surprised  at  this, 
I  learned,  through  questioning,  that  a  few  days  previous 
he  had  pulled  both  triggers  of  the  shot-gun  at  the  same 
time.     "Plenty  powder,  plenty  kill!"     It  nearly  did. 

Tanquary  reached  home  on  the  10th,  followed  by 
Jot  staggering  along  the  shore  of  the  fiord  with  drooping 
arms,  declaring  that  for  the  last  sixteen  days  he  had  not 
seen  a  blessed  thing  but  a  snow-bunting!  His  vivid 
description  of  the  country  through  which  they  had 
traveled  was  such  that  I  imagined  it  to  be  similar  in 
its  characteristics  to  the  Grand  Canon  of  the  Colorado. 
It  was  certainly  good  to  have  Jot  return  from  one  of  his 
trips.  He  declared  that  he  was  going  indoors  for  the 
winter!  The  Eskimos,  however,  reported  nineteen  cari- 
bou killed,  a  very  good  two  weeks'  work. 

It  is  most  remarkable,  indeed  almost  incredible,  how 
a  man  will  increase  in  weight  following  a  hard  trip  in 
the  Arctic  regions.  A  pound  a  day  is  a  common  occur- 
rence. In  seven  days  Tanquary  put  on  nine  and  one- 
half  pounds,  while  Hunt  added  six  pounds  in  three  days! 

The  harbor  had  now  frozen  over.  With  the  retreating 
sun  the  days  were  gradually  decreasing  in  length.  f)n 
October  24th  the  sun  appeared  for  the  last  time.  There 
was  no  weeping  on  the  part  of  our  Eskimos.  There 
never  is.  The  coming  of  the  great  night  is  a  part  of 
their  life  and  is  looked  forward  to  with  pleasure.  It  is 
the  time  of  companionship  and  visiting.     Mothers  see 


1914]  WORK  AT  BORUP  LODGE  119 

their  daughters;  fathers  see  their  sons.  The  crowded 
igloos  are  filled  with  laughter  and  good  cheer.  The  dark 
night  is  one  long,  delightful  holiday.  The  northern  na- 
tive is  resting  from  his  labors  of  spring,  summer,  and  fall. 

Ever  since  our  arrival  among  our  northern  friends 
we  had  planned  to  entertain  them  with  a  vaudeville 
show.  As  we  gave  it  on  the  19th  of  December,  it  will 
live,  be  recalled,  and  be  re-enjoyed  for  many  years  to 
come.  Requested  to  leave  the  room,  they  discovered, 
upon  their  return,  a  well-arranged  auditorium  with 
seats,  stage,  and  drawn  curtain,  upon  which  they  glued 
their  eyes,  in  eager  anticipation  of  the  event  of  the  year. 
And  when  that  curtain  did  roll  back,  revealing,  not  the 
familiar  faces  of  the  seven  white  men,  but  a  hideous, 
leering  row  of  imported  masks,  the  yell  which  arose 
was  in  perfect  harmony  with  the  five  different  keys  in 
which  we  were  singing.  The  Eskimo  children  in  the 
orchestra  seats  gasped,  opened  their  mouths  in  terror, 
and  fled,  some  over  the  backs  of  the  chairs,  some  under 
and  some  around,  scurrying  for  cover  like  a  brood  of 
quail.  Two  disappeared  through  the  door  and  were 
found  in  the  igloo  beneath  the  house,  buried  deeply  in 
the  skins  of  the  bed  platform,  and  there  they  remained. 

The  second  act  was  by  far  the  most  startling.  Doc- 
tor Hunt  performed  a  mock  operation,  etherizing  Jot 
and  removing  from  his  stomach  a  six-pound  can  of 
pemmican,  a  ball  of  twine,  a  box  of  cigarettes,  and  a 
large  piece  of  walrus  liver.  When,  as  the  finale,  the 
doctor  severed  the  head,  grasped  the  apparently  ani- 
mated body,  and  threw  it  into  the  audience,  there  were 
gasps  of  horror  which  immediately  changed  into  roars  of 
laughter  upon  the  discovery  that  the  grinning  head  was 
attached  to  another  body  concealed  beneath  the  table! 


VII 


TO   UPERNAVIK  AND   BACK 


XTOW  that  Crocker  Land  had  been  proved  a  myth 
-*-^  and  our  original  plans  for  Arctic  work  were,  there- 
fore, curtailed,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  that  the 
various  institutions  under  whose  auspices  we  had  sailed 
should  be  apprised  of  the  fact  in  order  that  a  relief- 
ship  might  be  despatched  to  us  in  1915.  I  deemed  it 
imprudent  to  trust  so  valuable  a  mail  to  Freuchen  and 
his  Eskimos  who  journey  south  every  spring,  so  I 
planned  to  sledge  across  Melville  Bay  to  Upernavik  in 
South  Greenland  during  the  moonlight  periods  of  De- 
cember and  January,  a  distance  from  Etah  of  some 
500  miles.  This  trip  would,  I  believed,  add  consider- 
able ethnological  data  through  my  getting  into  personal 
touch  with  every  man,  woman,  and  child  in  the  Smith 
Sound  tribe.  A  December  start  was  somewhat  unusual, 
but  the  Dane  readily  agreed  to  it  and  promised  to  make 
all  arrangements  for  dog-drivers  and  meat. 

Early  in  the  fall,  Tanquary  surprised  me  with  a  re- 
quest to  accompany  me  on  the  journey.  There  was 
every  reason  why  this  request  should  not  be  granted; 
there  was  only  one  why  it  should — his  enthusiasm  for 
field-work.  I  consented  to  his  going,  and  I  am  sorry 
to  say  he  met  with  misfortune  on  the  journey — badly 
frosted  feet  and  the  loss  of  both  big  toes. 


A  LONELY  GRAVE  IN  THE  FAR  NORTH 

Sonntag  was  the  astronomer  of  the  Kane  Expedition  of  1853-55,  and  of  the  Hayes  Expedition 

of  1860-61. 


PORT  FOULKE.      WINTER  QUARTERS   OF   HAYES  EXPEDITION 


1914]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  121 

We  were  off  the  day  before  Christmas,  with  fourteen 
Eskimos  headed  south  to  visit  friends  and  relatives — 
the  annual  gossiping  trip.  Tanquary  rode  on  my 
sledge  until  dogs  could  be  purchased. 

As  we  passed  around  Cape  Alexander,  the  Crystal 
Palace  Glacier  gave  us  its  usual  reception.  With  a 
howling  wind  and  drift  at  our  backs,  we  raced  down 
from  the  summit  to  the  sea  amid  the  snapping  of  whips, 
the  yelling  of  the  men,  the  bound  and  leap  of  sledges, 
and  the  crying  of  securely  bundled  children.  The 
sledges  were  carefully  lowered  with  rawhide  lines  over 
the  neariy  vertical  icy  face  to  the  ice-foot  bordering 
upon  a  smoky,  open  sea.  Working  along  a  narrow  ice- 
foot in  the  dark  with  an  energetic  train  of  dogs  is  ex- 
tremely hazardous.  Often  the  preservation  of  one's 
very  life  exacts  every  ounce  of  strength.  Constantly 
alert  to  avoid  protruding  rocks,  rubbles  of  ice,  holes, 
deep  cracks,  and  slippery  slopes  leading  to  the  sea, 
quick  decisions  are  imperative;  action  must  be  im- 
mediate. It  is  a  glorious  fight  against  the  antagonistic 
weapons  of  the  Northland!  And  when  the  last  round 
is  fought,  although  the  temperature  may  be  at  fifty  and 
sixty  below,  one  is  reeking  with  perspiration. 

As  we  started  south  that  night,  a  section  of  the  ice- 
foot cracked  beneath  our  sledge  and  fell  seaward,  leav- 
ing Tanquary,  who  was  guiding  the  sledge,  with  one 
foot  over  the  crevice,  fairly  tottering  on  the  edge.  Three 
seconds  previous  in  time  or  three  feet  in  advance  might 
have  brought  about  serious  results.  Such  an  incident, 
one  of  many,  is  but  typical  and  is  well  illustrative  of 
Arctic  work. 

Christmas  Day  found  us  reeking  with  sweat,  pushing 
and  pulling  our  sledges  up  over  the  Clements  Markham 


122      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Dec. 

Glacier.  As  I  was  going  back  on  foot  to  help  Ah-we- 
ung-o-na,  who  had  pluckily  driven  her  husband's  dogs 
all  the  way  from  Etah,  I  jumped  hastily  to  one  side 
upon  rounding  a  sharp  turn,  face  to  face  with  what 
resembled  a  huge  bear.  A  laugh  and  a  few  Eskimo 
words  identified  the  strange  beast  as  Tung-we  on  all- 
fours.  At  Etah  he  had  suffered  a  painful  accident 
by  stepping  upon  a  long  nail,  forcing  it  so  deep  into  his 
heel  as  to  incapacitate  him  for  some  weeks,  and  thus 
compelling  his  wife  to  handle  the  team. 

The  lights  of  Kah-na  were  a  cheerful  sight.  Coming 
out  of  the  darkness  and  the  cold  of  the  trail,  the  little 
squares  of  light  behind  which  we  knew  were  food, 
warmth,  and  good  cheer  were  blessed  again  and  again. 
The  village  was  crowded.  Every  bed  was  more  than 
filled.  Tanquary  and  I  declined  all  proflFered  hospital- 
ity and  slept  on  the  ice  with  our  backs  against  our 
sledges,  sacrificing  a  bit  of  comfort  for  the  sake  of 
freedom  from  lice,  the  prevailing  scourge  of  an  Eskimo 
home. 

A  short  run  on  the  27th  brought  us  to  the  village  of 
Ittibloo.  The  roar  of  wind  on  the  glacier  precluded  all 
thoughts  of  an  attempt  to  cross  the  land  into  Gran- 
ville Bay.  Two  snow  houses  were  quickly  constructed 
for  the  accommodation  of  our  party,  and  we  were  ready 
for  the  trail  when  the  weather  would  permit.  The 
Eskimos  at  Kah-na  had  informed  us  that  rounding  Cape 
Parry  was  impossible.  * 

We  awoke  to  a  clear  starlit  sky  and  an  almost  weird 
stillness,  which  indicated  a  total  subsidence  of  all  wind. 
The  soft  footing  on  the  upward  slope  was  a  bit  tiring 
to  men  and  dogs,  but  the  dash  down  from  the  summit 
would  have  been  exciting  and  enjoyable  had  it  not  been 


1914]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  123 

for  rocks  and  grit,  grating  on  our  nerves  as  much  as  on 
the  steel  runners  of  our  sledges.  Hot  tea  and  biscuit 
at  the  foot  of  the  glacier  renewed  our  strength  for  the 
long  trip  to  Umanak  (North  Star  Bay),  where  we  ar- 
rived in  twelve  hours,  a  distance  of  fifty  miles  from 
Ittibloo. 

Freuchen  welcomed  us  warmly  and  announced  his 
readiness  to  start  south  at  once.  The  Eskimo  girls, 
however,  insisted  upon  a  farewell  dance.  To  the  strains 
of  a  squeaky  victrola  endeavoring  to  coax  music  out  of 
a  few  deeply  scored  and  well-worn  records,  we  stepped 
through  the  plain  quadrilles  with  the  half-breed  mis- 
sionary and  three  South  Greenland  belles,  one  of  whom 
was  with  child,  one  just  married,  and  tte  third  plainly 
setting  her  cap.  It  was  certainly  amusing  to  see  E-took- 
a-shoo  and  his  bearskin  pants  being  shoved  from  cor- 
ner to  corner,  absolutely  helpless  and  bewildered. 
Seated  upon  his  sledge,  snapping  out  his  long  whip  over 
the  backs  of  his  galloping  dogs,  he  is  a  picture — ^but 
dancing!  We  decided  to  have  another  ball  the  next 
night. 

After  the  dance  we  visited  the  Eskimo  igloos.  In 
one  was  Tah-ta-ra,  a  helpless  cripple  of  whom  Peary 
wrote  twenty  years  ago.  I  had  understood  that  his 
body  was  being  slowly  ossified,  but  Doctor  Hunt  in- 
formed me  that  it  was  bony  ankylosis,  or  arthritis 
deformans.  It  is  a  disease  of  doubtful  etiology,  but 
it  was  long  believed  to  be  associated  intimately  with 
gout  and  rheumatism.  Their  relationship  seems  now 
to  be  disproved.  Doctor  Osier  writes  that  it  is  the 
"result  of  infection,  characterized  by  changes  in  the 
synovial  membranes,  cartilage,  and  j>eri-articular  struct- 
ures, and  in  some  cases  by  atrophic  and  hypertrophic 
9 


124      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

changes  in  the  bones."  That  sounds  fatal.  The 
Eskimo  died  a  few  months  after. 

Ah-nah-doo,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  tribe,  gave  me 
an*^^  interesting  bit  of  information  in  regard  to  the  mys- 
terious death  of  Sonntag,  the  astronomer  of  the  Doctor 
Hayes  Expedition  of  1860-61.  Doctor  Hayes,  in  his 
book.  The  Open  Polar  Sea,  hints  at  foul  play,  and  was 
never  quite  satisfied  with  the  explanation  of  the  Eskimo 
Hans,  Sonntag's  companion.  The  old  woman  averred 
that  the  sledge  upon  which  the  white  man  was  riding 
south  from  the  ship  plunged  down  a  steep  embankment 
into  the  sea;  and  that  Hans,  the  Eskimo  driver,  de- 
signedly did  not  warn  the  man  of  his  danger,  nor  make 
any  effort  to  save  him.  To  my  question  as  to  why 
Hans  should  be  guilty  of  this  treachery  she  replied: 
"Hans  wanted  all  the  white  man's  things  for  himself. 
He  distributed  them  among  his  relatives  at  the  different 
villages." 

However,  I  attach  no  importance  at  all  to  the  story. 
Such  an  accident  might  easily  happen  to  an  inexperi- 
enced white  man;  and  undoubtedly  it  would  prove 
fatal  at  low  temperatures  to  one  clothed  in  woolens, 
unless  shelter  could  be  reached  within  a  few  minutes. 
Hans  declared  that  he  had  done  his  best  to  get  the 
freezing  mati  to  a  place  of  safety,  but  that  Sonntag  died 
on  the  way. 

With  Freuchen*s  help  we  secured  dogs  for  Tanquary, 
and  we  planned  to  add  to  the  number  at  Cape  York. 
When  we  were  on  the  sea  ice,  ready  for  the  start  on 
the  morning  of  the  31st,  Peter  (Freuchen)  exclaimed: 

"Vate  von  moment,  blease!"  He  returned  within  a 
few  minutes  with  the  remark,  "Vel,  I  have  doon  it!" 

"What  was  that,  Peter?"  I  inquired. 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  125 

"I  have  married  them." 

"What  did  you  do?" 

"Vel,  he  said  he  vanted  her,  and  I  said  dat  was  all 
right.     Now  ve  vill  go.** 

Indeed,  a  typical  Arctic  romance.  No  courtship,  no 
prearrangement,  no  ring,  no  license,  no  promises,  no 
love.     Could  anything  be  more  primitive? 

On  the  march  some  thirty  miles  below  Umanak  we 
stopped  at  "Park-e-to,'*  a  rocky  cave  in  the  cliff  opening 
at  the  level  of  the  sea,  a  historic  spot,  and  one  almost 
sacred  in  the  tales  and  traditions  of  the  Smith  Sound 
Eskimo.  Here  for  centuries  these  Northern  people 
have  taken  refuge  from  driving  winds  and  snow,  have 
kindled  their  seal-oil  fires  in  their  soapstone  lamps,  have 
eaten  their  raw,  frozen  meat,  and  have  chanted  their 
weird,  primitive  songs.  Seated  there  in  the  shadows 
thrown  by  the  uncertain  light  of  a  torch,  one*s  imagina- 
tion ran  riot,  leaping  in  bounds  far  back  to  the  early 
days  of  man.  Where  were  these  people  when  these 
hills  were  covered  with  giant  trees,  when  the  valleys 
were  bright  with  flowers  and  the  fiords  were  rippling 
with  warm  sunlight?  And  whither  did  they  retreat 
when  all  the  Northlands  were  buried  deep  in  ice,  ob- 
literating the  highest  mountains  and  flowing  south  to 
the  latitude  of  New  York?  Did  they  follow  the  retreat- 
ing edge  of  the  glacier,  ever  pushing  on  in  pursuit  of 
the  polar  bear,  the  musk-ox,  the  walrus,  the  caribou,  and, 
having  forgotten  the  warm  Southland,  are  they  now 
content  to  dress  in  skins,  live  on  meat,  and  abide  here 
always?  Or  did  they  arrive  from  the  Far  East  by  way 
of  the  fabled  Atlantis  and  then  scatter  northward, 
westward,  and  southward  to  North  America?  This  we 
do  know — that  the  Eskimo  of  to-day  is  not  closely 


126      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

connected  with  the  Japanese  or  Chinese,  as  external 
appearances  would  indicate,  but  is  closely  associated 
with  the  North  American  Indian;  that  his  home  was 
in  the  northwestern  part  of  North  America,  and  not 
across  Bering  Strait;  that  he  was  driven  down  to 
the  sea  by  the  Indian;  that  he  migrated  north,  inhabit- 
ing all  northern  lands  to  the  edge  of  the  Polar  Sea. 
His  traditions,  many  of  them,  are  the  traditions  of  the 
North  American  Indians.  His  language  is  polysyn- 
thetic  and  agglutinative,  as  is  that  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indian.  Strange,  happy,  laughing  nomad  of  the 
frozen  North,  living  far  away  from  the  toil  and  strife 
and  travail  of  civilization! 

Ak-bat  by  moonlight  seems  unreal,  a  product  of  the 
imagination.  Enraptured,  as  with  the  dignity  and 
beauty  of  a  great  cathedral,  we  drove  along  the  base  of 
the  towering  cliffs  guarding  the  entrance  to  the  village. 
The  stars  in  that  cold,  clear  sky  seemed  almost  within 
one's  grasp. 

How  glad  the  Eskimos  were  to  see  us !  And  how  gen- 
erous with  everything!  Koo-la-ting-wa  was  our  genial 
host.  Nothing  in  his  well-stocked  larder  was  too  good 
for  his  white  friends,  or  too  old.  He  harnessed  his  dogs 
and  bounded  away  into  the  moonlight.  Within  a  half- 
hour  his  sledge  stood  before  our  door  loaded  with 
frozen  murres  (Uria  lomvia  lomvia)  and  fetid  seal,  a  part 
of  the  harvest  of  summer  months.  Although  the  birds 
were  not  exactly  fresh,  having  been  packed  away  tin- 
cleaned  and  warm  in  sealskin  bags  five  months  previous, 
they  were  banquet  food  to  these  uncritical  northern 
gourmands. 

After  our  evening  meal,  Peter,  the  Dane,  discoursed 
long  and  eloquently  uj>on  the  merits  of  socialism.     The 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  U7 

old  year  went  out;  the  new  year  came  in,  and  socialism 
still  reigned.  I  may  add  that  Freuchen  has  definitely 
renounced  civilization  as  being  unfit  for  man.  He  has 
married  an  Eskimo  girl  and  has  settled  down  for  life 
at  the  top  of  the  world  among  ideal  socialists. 

Our  dogs  raced  over  a  beautiful  sledging  surface  to 
Cape  York  in  seven  hours,  where  we  found  three  igloos 
occupied  by  three  very  prominent  men  of  the  tribe,  all 
valuable  assistants  to  Peary  in  times  past — My-ah, 
Ahng-ma-lock-to,  and  Ahng-o-do-blah-o.  The  last  is 
universally  acknowledged  to  be  the  greatest  hunter  in 
the  Smith  Sound  tribe.  We  feasted  on  raw  polar  bear — 
delicious!  and  our  dogs  were  filled  to  repletion.  Hap- 
piness and  contentment  reigned  in  and  out  of  the  igloo. 

Three  of  my  dogs,  unfit  for  the  long  trip,  were  left  at 
this  settlement  to  await  my  return.  Three  more  were 
secured  for  Tanquary,  thus  completing  his  team;  he 
drove  them  exceptionally  well,  considering  that  this  was 
his  first  experience. 

Kikertak  (Salvo  Island),  a  few  miles  east,  was  ou^ 
next  stopping-place.  Here  lived  Oo-bloo-ya  (Star)  and 
his  wife,  Ka-sah-do,  who  illustrates  well  how  an 
ethnologist,  through  a  misunderstanding  of  the  language, 
may  arrive  at  a  too  hasty  conclusion. 

Ka-sah-do  has  had  a  very  trying  experience.  Some 
years  ago  she  and  her  three  children  were  starving. 
They  were  so  hungry  that  one  of  her  breasts  was  almost 
destroyed  by  their  teeth.  She  finally  resorted  to  the 
expedient  of  slitting  the  ends  of  her  fingers,  thus  per- 
mitting them  to  suck  her  blood.  To-day  the  in- 
jured breast  is  gone,  the  other  is  prominent.  The 
scientist  in  question,  upon  seeing  the  mother  seated 
upon  the  right  of  the  igloo  as  one  enters,  and  the  child 


128      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

nursing  from  the  right  breast,  concluded  that  the  left 
had  atrophied  through  disuse,  it  being  inconvenient  for 
the  mother  to  feed  her  child  from  the  "inside"!  This 
was  pubhshed  and  accepted  as  gospel,  if  not  scientific, 
truth. 

Oo-bloo-ya  was  not  to  be  outdone  in  hospitality  by 
our  previous  hosts.  A  new  and  strange  dish  awaited 
our  ever-ready  appetites,  sharpened  by  healthy  work 
and  strengthened  by  the  purest  of  air.  What  resembled 
in  outward  appearances  a  fat  frozen  seal  was  squeezed 
through  the  small  circular  entrance  in  the  floor.  With 
a  sharp  knife  a  slit,  about  one  foot  in  length,  was  made 
in  the  belly.  The  man  of  the  house  rolled  back  his 
sleeve,  plunged  his  arm  in  to  the  elbow,  and  withdrew 
it,  smeared  with  grease  and  clutching  black  strips  of 
meat.  "Sausages  packed  in  lard,  same  idea!"  said  I  to 
myself.  Strips  of  sun-dried  narwhal  packed  in  narwhal 
oil!  Was  anything  ever  better!  Long  we  ate,  and 
swelled  and  slept,  and  ate  again,  and  praised  and 
thanked  our  host  for  his  well-stocked  larder. 

Now  that  the  village  feasts  were  over,  our  retinue 
of  camp-followers  turned  toward  the  north  with  other 
overflowing  caches  as  their  objective  points.  The  re- 
port came  to  us  from  a  near-by  igloo  that  faithful  E-took- 
a-shoo,  our  best  man,  was  ill.  This  would  never  do. 
Clean  grit  from  the  soles  of  his  sealskin  kamiks  to  the 
hood  of  his  sealskin  netcha,  I  knew  that  he  would  go 
if  he  could  wiggle  his  eyelash.  Within  a  few  minutes  our 
sledge  stood  harnessed  before  his  door. 

"Yes,"  he  grinned,  "I  am  all  right." 

Here  I  had  my  first  misgivings  as  to  the  probable 
success  of  Freuchen's  plans,  if  he  had  made  any,  which 
I  now  doubt.     Possibly  familiarity  with  conditions  had 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  129 

bred  contempt.  He  had  negotiated  the  trip  six  times. 
The  distance  from  Cape  York  across  Melville  Bay  to 
Cape  Seddon  is  170  miles.  This  he  planned  to  negotiate 
in  three  marches,  which  could  easily  be  done  with  good 
going,  no  leads,  and  clear  weather.  He  certainly  de- 
j>ended  ufKjn  such  ideal  conditions,  as  the  amount  of 
dog  food  upon  our  sledges  and  the  nature  of  his  equip- 
ment showed.  We  each  had  one  seal — two  meals  for 
our  dogs.  I  had  no  sleeping-bag.  He  had  no  compass. 
I  quote  from  my  diary  verbatim  to  show  the  inevi- 
table result  of  a  jx)orly  planned  Arctic  trip  and  some- 
thing of  the  dangers  of  crossing  Melville  Bay  in  the 
depths  of  winter: 

January  Jfth,  Monday. — ^To-night  we  are  encamped  on  the  ice, 
sleeping  out;  there  is  no  snow  suitable  for  a  snow  house.  Every 
one  pretty  well  iced  up.     Should  judge  it  to  be  about  forty  below. 

January  5th,  Tuesday. — A  succession  of  old  ice,  young  ice,  and 
open  leads. 

There  must  be  a  lot  of  open  water  somewhere.  The  bay  is  fuU 
of  mist,  obscuring  the  moon  and  cutting  off  our  view  shoreward. 
Only  a  short  march.     We  cannot  see  where  we  are  going. 

January  6th,  Wednesday. — Darkness  and  mist  have  again  com- 
pelled us  to  stop  with  a  short  march  to  our  credit.  Wind  is  from 
what  I  judge  to  be  southeast,  and  looks  Uke  snow.  Still  sleeping 
out;   no  suitable  snow  for  an  igloo. 

January  7th,  Thursday. — Blowing  and  snowing,  but  traveling 
much  preferable  to  sitting  on  our  sledges  without  shelter.  Have 
been  going  in  what  we  think  is  the  right  direction.  We  are  to- 
night in  the  shelter  of  a  very  large  berg.  Shall  remain  here  until  the 
weather  clears. 

Henrick  has  left  a  bag  of  biscuit  somewhere  on  the  trail;  rather 
a  serious  loss,  as  we  have  not  many.  Only  one  more  feed  for  our 
dogs. 

Very  cold  to-night.  Am  sleeping  without  shelter  or  a  sleeping- 
bag. 

January  8th,  Friday. — Weather  cleared  during  the  night,  a  brill- 
iant moonlight,  giving  us  a  good  view  of  land.     Thinking  possibly 


130      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

it  might  be  "Took-too-lik-suah"  (Cape  Seddon),  we  are  headed  in 
toward  it. 

The  snow  has  deepened,  and  as  I  am  the  only  one  who  has  snow- 
shoes,  have  been  out  in  advance  nearly  all  day.  Should  reach  land 
to-morrow.     Dogs  very  weak. 

January  9th,  Saturday. — We  have  reached  something,  but  no  one 
knows  what,  after  eighteen  hours  of  driving  over  sea  ice  in  an  easter- 
ly direction,  or  perhaps  more  to  the  northeast.  Although  Peter  has 
been  up  and  down  the  coast  six  times,  he  is  imable  to  recognize  the 
spot. 

Henrick  (a  half-breed  from  South  Greenland)  is  sick.  He  com- 
plained so  much  this  morning  that  we  put  him  in  his  sleeping-bag 
and  lashed  him  to  his  sledge;  and  in  this  way  he  has  ridden  all  day, 
we  driving  his  dogs.  He  thinks  that  we  are  at  Took-too-Uk-suah, 
but  Peter  and  E-took-a-shoo  are  in  doubt.  There  is  a  heavy  mist 
obscuring  everything. 

We  have  our  first  snow  house  to-night,  having  slept  in  the  open 
five  nights,  and  it  seems  like  a  home.  Our  last  dog  food  is  gone, 
and  also  all  our  meat,  leaving  us  only  a  few  biscuit. 

January  10th,  Sunday. — ^This  morning  it  was  as  thick  as  mud  and 
twice  as  black.  We  didn't  know  what  to  do,  but  finally  decided 
that  we  could  not  go  far  wrong  if  we  followed  the  edge  of  the  land 
to  the  southeast.  This  is  where  we  made  a  mistake  and  should 
have  remained  in  camp.  The  land  here  trended  to  the  northeast 
when  oiu"  coiu-se  should  have  been  southeast. 

After  marching  for  some  six  hours  through  soft  snow,  we 
headed  for  what  we  thought  was  an  iceberg,  a  low  black  Une  on  the 
horizon.  To  our  svu^irise,  a  nearer  view  proved  it  to  be  an  island 
with  a  big  black  cave  in  the  side  of  it.  Upon  examination  we  found 
the  cave  to  be  the  vertical  face  of  a  cliff.  How  deceptive  things  are 
in  the  dark!  In  trying  to  examine  this  I  broke  through  thin  ice, 
filling  both  boots  with  water. 

Off  the  point  of  Took-too-lik-suah,  our  objective  point,  there 
is  an  island.  Thinking  that  possibly  this  might  be  it,  Peter  started 
west  along  the  shore  on  a  reconnaissance,  while  I  started  up  over 
the  top.  After  some  laborious  work  I  reached  what  I  judged  nftust 
be  the  summit,  only  to  find,  upon  going  on,  there  was  a  higher  and 
a  higher  one  with  no  apparent  end.  I  was  trying  to  cross  Greenland 
in  one  night! 

Upon  Peter  rei)orting  that  there  seemed  to  be  no  limit  to  his 
shore-line,  we  constructed  an  igloo — a  haJf-dugout  affair — and  have 
decided  not  to  move  until  we  know  where  we  are.  Henrick  has  now 
lost  a  can  of  oil,  which  doubles  our  difficulties.    Our  mittens  and 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  ISI 

boots  are  very  wet.  If  we  can't  dry  them,  frozen  hands  and  feet 
are  the  inevitable  result.  With  no  food,  and  no  knowledge  of  where 
we  are,  this  could  easily  develop  into  a  serious  affair. 

Janvary  11th,  Monday. — Henrick  and  Peter  were  both  sick  during 
the  night,  the  former  coughing  and  spitting  and  breathing  with 
difficulty,  the  latter  bleeding  at  the  nose. 

It  cleared  up  a  bit  this  morning,  giving  us  a  fair  view  of  our  sur- 
roundings. We  are  in  a  deep  bay  filled  with  islands  and  inclosed  by 
high  hills. 

Peter  and  Henrick  try  to  encourage  us  by  declaring  that  we  are 
on  the  back  side  of  the  cape. 

4  P.M. — Leaving  our  dugout  this  morning,  we  drove  around  the 
cape  and  well  up  the  south  side,  hoping  to  find  the  igloos.  We  can 
see  nothing;  therefore  have  constructed  another  igloo. 

When  coming  in  here  at  5.80  p.m.  we  headed  toward  the  constella- 
tion Pleiades,  which  must  be  in  the  east  at  this  time  of  day. 

Dogs  are  very  hungry  and  are  beginning  to  eat  their  traces.  Every 
night  a  few  get  loose  and  eat  up  everything  and  anything  in  sight. 

January  12th,  Tuesday. — ^Much  to  our  reUef,  the  mist  lifted  this 
morning,  giving  us  a  good  view  to  the  south.  The  point  of  land  in 
the  distance,  perhaps  twenty-five  miles  away,  they  all  agree  is  our 
will-o'-the-wisp. 

We  started  toward  it  at  once,  I  leading  the  way  on  snow-shoes. 
About  noon  the  weather  thickened  again,  leaving  us  nothing  but  a 
few  stars  by  which  to  direct  our  course.  The  Great  Square  of  Pegasus 
I  knew  to  be  in  the  south  at  four  or  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon; 
therefore  directed  our  course  to  the  left  of  that. 

We  at  last  reached  what  we  concluded  in  the  darkness  must  be 
the  cape — a  long,  high  ridge.  Upon  a  close  examination  this  proved 
to  be  a  huge  iceberg  with  numerous  pressure  ridges.  We  were  all 
plainly  disappointed,  especially  in  view  of  the  fact  that  there  was 
no  snow  for  a  snow  house  and  a  light,  cold  wind  blowing. 

Getting  into  the  ice  for  shelter,  we  made  tea  and  ate  our  mouthful 
of  biscuit. 

To  save  our  harnesses  from  destruction,  we  removed  them  from 
the  dogs  and  brought  them  into  an  inclosure  of  five  sledges.  In 
constructing  this,  it  looked  for  all  the  world  as  if  we  were  preparing 
for  an  encounter  with  Indians. 

No  sooner  had  the  boys  got  into  their  sleeping-bags  and  I  under 
a  piece  of  musk-ox  robe,  when  fifty  dogs  made  a  rush. 

"Dey  are  eating  my  head!"  yelled  Peter. 

"They  are  puUing  me  off  the  sledge!"  cried  Henrick,  in  Eskimo. 

Seizing  a  whip,  I  drove  the  dogs  to  a  distance  and  lay  down  again. 


132      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE   WHITE   NORTH    [Jan. 

But  within  a  few  minutes  there  was  another  raid  upon  harnesses,  sledge 
lashings,  and  all  skins  in  sight.  To  sleep  was  impossible;  therefore 
with  wliip  in  hand  all  night  I  dozed,  and  walked,  and  struck,  guarding 
what  might  be  our  life;  for  if  harnesses  were  eaten  and  lashings 
bitten  from  our  sledges  travel  would  be  impossible  in  this  deep  snow 
with  only  one  pair  of  snow-shoes. 

January  13th,  Wednesday. — This  morning  we  found  it  blowing 
and  snowing.  Knowang  by  the  feel  that  it  must  be  a  southerly  wind, 
we  left  camp  with  the  wind  in  our  faces,  hoping  to  reach  something, 
at  least  an  iceberg,  where  there  might  be  snow  for  a  snow  house. 

We  have  plodded  on  through  deep  snow  all  day,  slightly  varying 
our  course  now  and  then,  suspecting  that  the  wind  was  changing 
to  the  southwest. 

The  surface  has  been  absolutely  level — ^not  a  crack,  not  a  press- 
ure ridge,  not  an  iceberg.  Were  we  out  to  sea  or  in  one  of  the 
deep  bays?  No  one  knew.  Upon  my  asking  each  one  in  which 
direction  he  judged  the  course  to  be  or  Cape  Seddon  to  lie,  no  two 
agreed.  One  would  have  us  head  out  into  the  middle  of  Smith 
Sound,  one  back  toward  Cape  York,  one  toward  the  south,  and  two 
east. 

We  turned  at  right  angles  to  our  course  and  headed  toward  what 
I  thought  must  be  land.  Gradually  the  pace  grew  slower  and 
slower,  and  finally  all  sledges  stopped.  We  were  all  plainly  tired  and 
lacked  stamina.  We  have  had  no  meat  now  for  a  week,  and  only 
about  four  ounces  of  biscuit  a  day  (one-eighth  of  a  ration),  with  tea 
and  coflfee  strong  enough  to  kill  a  Nascaupee  Indian. 

Each  man  dropped  on  his  sledge;  then  lying  in  the  snow,  with 
backs  against  our  sledges  for  shelter,  we  dropped  off  to  sleep. 

Awaking  an  hour  later,  somewhat  chilled,  I  caUed  all  the  men 
and  advised  that  we  construct  some  kind  of  a  house  from  our  sledges, 
which  we  have  done  by  turning  them  over  and  covering  them  with 
skins  as  a  protection  against  the  snow,  which  is  now  falling  rapidly. 

Each  man  is  standing  a  three-hovu"  watch  against  the  dogs  armed 
with  a  whip. 

January  14th,  Thursday. — Snow  falling  all  day  and  very  dark. 
We  are  down  to  dog  meat.  Have  killed  three  to-day,  cooking  «one 
for  ourselves  and  feeding  two  to  the  pack.  The  dead  had  hardly 
finished  breathing  when  they  were  literally  gobbled  up. 

The  dogs  are  getting  weak.  Two  of  Tanquary's  dropped  yester- 
day in  harness;  one  got  away  and  started  back  on  the  trail.  The 
poor  thing  has  visions  of  food  somewhere  in  the  north.  May  he 
reach  it! 

All  our  biscuit  are  gone.    The  outlook  from  now  on  was  dog 


19151  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  188 

meat  alone  until  Henrick  happened  to  remember  that  some  one  was 
sending  by  mail  two  pounds  of  biscuit  and  a  few  ounces  of  sugar  to 
her  sister  in  Upernavik.  We  all  agreed  that  this  should  be  used  in 
case  of  an  emergency;    therefore  out  it  came  and  has  disappeared. 

Another  night  on  watch  with  the  whip  to  save  harnesses  and 
sledges.  Our  dogs  will  furnish  soup  for  some  time;  there  is  hardly 
enough  meat  on  them  for  anything  else. 

January  15th,  Friday. — Here  we  are  in  a  warm  igloo  surroimded 
with  plenty  of  bear  and  seal  meat  after  a  hard  day  but  with  a  good 
finish. 

At  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  the  15th  the  watch 
awoke  us  with  the  good  news  that  it  was  as  clear  as 
a  bell  and  Took-too-lik-suah  only  ten  miles  away.  Tea 
was  made  quickly  (the  only  thing  we  had),  everything 
was  packed,  and  away  we  went  through  deep  snow,  all 
anxiety  thrown  to  the  four  winds. 

It  was  a  long,  hard  pull  to  land,  for  neither  dogs  nor 
men  were  any  too  strong.  A  long,  low  f>oint  trended 
well  toward  the  southwest  and  we  followed  this  closely 
for  several  miles.  When  nearly  to  the  end  of  the  point 
and  leading  the  sledges  on  snow-shoes,  I  had  the  mis- 
fortune to  break  through  thin  ice  up  to  my  breast, 
catching  myself  on  my  outstretched  arms,  and  thus 
avoiding  a  much-needed  bath.  But  with  the  tempera- 
ture at  forty  below,  I  was  glad  to  forego  that  luxury 
until  a  later  and  more  comfortable  date.  Well  warmed 
by  walking,  such  an  accident  does  not  begin  to  entail 
as  much  suffering  as  one  imagines.  Clothed  in  skins, 
although  wet,  they  are  still  a  protection  to  the  body, 
for  they  continue  to  be  impervious  to  the  wind.  Clothed 
in  woolens,  one  would  soon  succumb  in  low  temperatures. 

Here  we  decided  to  throw  off  everything  from  our 
sledges  and  make  a  dash  for  the  two  Eskimo  igloos.  In 
fifteen  or  twenty  minutes  Nigger,  my  black  dog,  run- 
ning loose,  found  a  trail.     He  lifted  his  tail  and  quickened 


1S4      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

his  pace,  my  dogs  straining  to  keep  up  with  him.  As 
he  arrived  at  the  depth  of  a  bend,  he  disappeared  up 
over  the  top  of  the  cape  on  the  dead  run;  and  then 
came  that  prolonged  howl  of  welcome  from  the  pack 
tethered  near  the  houses,  a  howl  which  was  a  welcome, 
a  curfew,  and  a  dinner-bell  combined. 

Our  tired  dogs,  with  drooping  tails  and  drooping  ears, 
were  now  rejuvenated  and  almost  prancing  as  they 
swung  around  the  jwint  and  headed  toward  the  lighted 
holes  in  the  snow. 

With  as  much  agility  as  my  frozen  clothes  would  per- 
mit, I  made  my  way  along  the  covered  passage  and 
stuck  my  head  up  through  the  hole  in  the  floor.  The 
lord  and  lady  of  the  household  were  evidently  just 
awakened  by  the  chorus  of  welcome  now  in  full  cres- 
cendo. To  the  bulging,  bhnking  eyes  of  the  Eskimo, 
the  dirty-faced,  full-whiskered  object  at  the  entrance 
was  his  conception  of  the  devil  himself.  He  had  come 
at  last!  He  and  his  fathers  and  forefathers  had  often 
heard  of  him,  but  had  never  seen  him. 

I  have  never  beheld  abject  fear  so  fully  depicted 
upon  the  countenance  of  man.  Before  I  could  smile 
(which  might  have  finished  him),  his  wife  recognized 
me,  which  is  a  distinct  compliment  to  her  intelligence. 
Ek-kai-a-sha,  or  "Bill,"  was  one  of  our  Eskimos  upon 
the  S.S.  Roosevelt  on  the  North  Pole  trip.  When  a 
little  girl  she  had  even  spent  a  year  at  Washington, 
D.  Co,  with  Mrs.  Peary. 

The  look  on  Mee-tak's  face  instantly  changed  to  a 
grin  as  he  watched  me  struggling  to  remove  my  wet 
bearskin  pants  and  sealskin  boots.  My!  but  it  was 
warm  and  comfortable.  No  more  shivering  and  shak- 
ing on  four  ounces  a  day! 


1915J  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  185 

Maurice  Cole  Tanquary,  Ph.D.,  soon  arrived  and 
forthwith  fell  to  devouring  raw  bear  meat  like  the  wild- 
est aborigine.  Dog,  bear,  narwhal,  caribou,  seal,  all 
raw,  were  graciously  and  thankfully  received  and 
thoroughly  enjoyed.  We  remained  there  for  eight  days, 
eating  and  sleeping  and  resting  and  perceptibly  swelling. 

Tanquary  had  been  an  ideal  traveling  companion; 
he  possessed  an  even  temp>erament,  never  got  excited, 
was  always  in  good  humor,  and  seemed  by  far  the 
healthiest  man  in  the  Crocker  Land  personnel.  Thus 
far  he  had  withstood  the  trip  admirably. 

Our  dogs?  They  ate  and  slept,  then  ate  again. 
They  consumed  thirty  seals  one  after  the  other.  Their 
tails  curled,  their  ears  became  erect,  their  eyes  grew 
bright.  They  jump>ed  to  their  feet,  wagged  their  great 
heads,  and  uttered  that  deep  growl  so  expressive  of  the 
real  joy  of  living. 

During  our  sojourn  here  the  daily  conversation  of  the 
gathered  Eskimos  teemed  with  interest  and  information. 
It  appears  that  the  whole  coast-line  from  Cape  York 
to  Upernavik  is  dotted  with  old  Eskimo  igloos  and 
tupik  rings  which  show  a  distinct  connection  and  close 
relationship  between  North  and  South  Greenland  tribes. 
How  often  have  I  read  in  connection  with  the  Smith 
Sound  natives,  "Cut  off  from  the  south  by  the  dreaded 
Melville  Bay" !  They  have  never  been  cut  off.  In  the 
past,  as  to-day,  sledges  travel  the  whole  stretch  with 
nothing  to  fear. 

We  were  greatly  interested  in  a  twelve-year-old  boy 
at  this  igloo  by  the  name  of  Kop-a-noo  (Snow-bunting). 
Some  years  ago  he  and  his  mother  were  starving.  It  is 
customary  in  such  circumstances  to  kill  a  small  child 
rather  than  permit  it  to  suffer.    She,  however,  con- 


136      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

eluded  to  let  him  fight  for  his  life,  outside  with  the  dogs, 
by  eating  dung  and  refuse.  This  he  succeeded  in  doing, 
scouring  the  hills  for  rabbit-droppings  and  whatever  he 
could  snatch  from  the  dogs.  His  head  is  covered  with 
scars  inflicted  in  his  struggles  about  the  door  for  what- 
ever was  thrown  from  the  entrance. 

In  the  mail-pouch  going  south  was  a  letter  to  the 
American  Museum  requesting  that  a  ship  should  be 
sent  in  1915  to  transjwrt  the  Crocker  Land  Exj>edition 
back  to  civilization,  according  to  our  agreement,  in  case 
Crocker  Land  failed  to  exist.  I  now  placed  two  other 
letters,  one  to  the  Museum,  stating  that  I  would  remain 
another  year  in  the  Arctic  alone  and  indej)endent  of 
help  from  the  Museum;  and  the  other  to  my  friend, 
M.  J.  Look,  of  Kingston,  New  York,  requesting  that  he 
should  send  me  provisions  in  case  the  Museum  failed 
to  do  so. 

It  was  now  so  late  in  the  year  that,  should  I  go  on 
ind  be  delayed  in  returning,  all  our  plans  for  spring  work 
would  be  jeopardized.  Ekblaw's  plans,  which  I  had 
promised  to  aid  in  every  way,  must  be  carried  out. 
It  was  his  wish  to  study  the  geology  of  Ellesmere  and 
Axel  Heiberg  Lands  and  thereby  solve  some  very  im- 
portant scientific  questions.  His  route,  as  projected, 
lay  across  Smith  Sound  to  the  head  of  Flagler  Bay; 
thence  over  the  heights  of  Ellesmere  Land  to  Bay  Fiord; 
up  Eureka  Sound  to  the  Greely  Fiord;  and  on  to  the 
Lake  Hazen  region  in  Grant  Land;  then  returning*^?^za 
Fort  Conger,  Kennedy  Channel,  and  the  Kane  Basin. 
By  going  back  now  and  putting  my  dogs  in  condition, 
I  would  be  able  to  furnish  him  with  a  good  team,  even 
though  Tanquary  should  fail  to  arrive  with  the  dogs 
ordered  from  southern  ports. 


1915]  TO   UPERNAVIK  AND   BACK  137 

Tanquary,  Freuchen,  and  Henrick  left  for  the  south 
on  the  22d,  the  first  with  instructions  to  proceed  with 
the  mail  to  Upernavik,  secure  twenty  dogs  and  other 
articles  ordered,  and  then  return  to  Etah  as  quickly 
as  possible.  E-took-a-shoo  and  I  headed  north  across 
Melville  Bay  for  a  quick  run  up  the  coast,  with  nothing 
on  our  sledges  but  frozen  narwhal  meat,  a  gallon  of 
oil,  and  a  little  tea. 

Our  dogs,  following  their  long  rest,  were  very  stiflF 
and  demanded  constant  exertion  of  whip  and  voice. 
We  made  camp  at  the  end  of  fifteen  miles,  fortu- 
nate in  finding  snow  suitable  for  building  purposes. 
A  strong  wind  the  following  day  caused  us  to  appre- 
ciate our  snug  little  home  even  more  than  on  the 
night  before. 

A  good  twenty-eight  miles  were  placed  to  our  credit 
on  the  24th,  heading  at  the  end  of  the  march  toward  a 
large  berg,  where  we  hoped  to  find  snow  suitable  for  a 
house.  In  this  we  were  disappointed.  A  hasty  meal 
of  tea  and  raw  frozen  narwhal;  then  back  to  back,  a 
few  deep  breaths,  and  we  were  off  to  the  land  of  our 
dreams — E-took-a-shoo  to  hills  abounding  in  game,  and 
I  to  the  sunny  Southland. 

Our  dogs  were  in  a  surprisingly  good  condition,  con- 
sidering what  they  had  been  through  and  the  amount 
of  food  they  had  received  while  running  us  across  Mel- 
ville Bay  in  four  marches.  I  am  convinced  that  with 
good  going  this  journey  can  easily  be  done  in  three, 
because  we  lost  much  time  in  following  a  lead  of  young 
ice  far  to  the  northeast. 

Once  more  we  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  genial 
Ahng-o-da-blah-o.  Here  we  were  filled  to  repletion, 
for  he  served  bear,  narwhal-skin,  little  auks,  seal,  tea. 


138      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

coffee,  sugar,  milk  (!!!),  and  biscuit.  With  such  a  bill 
of  fare,  I  did  not  care  whether  I  moved  or  not.  E-took- 
a-shoo  didn't  for  several  hours. 

The  time  came  for  us  to  leave  these  good  friends. 
The  nearest  settlement  was  a  hundred  miles  away,  the 
Eskimos  having  gone  north  from  Ak-bat.  Could  we 
make  it  in  one  march?  It  was  full  moonlight  and  fifty 
below;  not  a  breath  of  wind.  The  road  was  as  hard 
as  iron  and  flat  as  a  floor.  Ideal  conditions!  Our  dogs 
were  rested  and  well  fed.  Their  little  legs  worked  for 
eighteen  hours.  Up  to  within  five  miles  of  home  not 
a  trace  had  slacked,  not  a  tail  had  lost  its  curl.  Whitey, 
the  hardest  and  most  faithful  puller  in  the  team,  stag- 
gered and  fell.  I  stroked  her  head,  slipped  her  harness, 
and  left  her  lying  on  the  trail.  I  watched  her  a  long 
time,  a  receding  dot  in  the  fading  trail,  until  she  merged 
into  the  night.  In  the  morning  she  was  curled  up  with 
the  team.  She  is  with  me  now  as  I  write.  For  her  the 
long  white  trail  is  over.  The  others  fairly  dashed  into 
Umanak,  every  one  strong  to  the  last  and  roady  for 
more.  Faithful,  magnificent  animals!  They  will  live 
with  me  always! 

There  was  no  dog  food  here,  which  prompted  us  to 
move  right  on,  following  a  one  day's  rest  for  our  dogs. 
WThere  we  were  to  get  our  next  food  we  did  not  know. 
It  looked  like  another  starvation  period  for  our  dogs 
until  we  could  reach  the  big  spring  encampment  of  the 
Eskimos  at  Nerky  and  Peteravik,  where  a  huncjred 
natives  are  often  to  be  found  hunting  walrus  in  the  oi>en 
water  far  offshore. 

The  sea  ice  at  Cape  Parry  was  so  completely  gone  and 
the  ice-foot  so  impassable  that,  after  a  cursory  examina- 
tion, we  walked  back  to  our  sledges.    To  go  up  over  the 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  ISd 

cape  was  our  only  recourse.  We  must  go  on;  there  was 
no  food  behind. 

We  were  about  to  turn  back  when  I  suggested  to 
E-took-a-shoo  and  other  Eskimos,  who  were  proceeding 
northward  for  meat,  that  we  again  examine  the  ice- 
foot. We  concluded  that  with  a  httle  hard  work  a 
passage  might  be  accomplished.  Unhitching  the 
dogs,  we  lifted  each  sledge  bodily  up  over  and 
through  that  chaotic  mass  of  sea  ice  pressed  high 
against  the  cliff.  Arduous  work,  but  preferable  to 
returning  and  then  ascending  to  the  summit  of  Cape 
Parry. 

Once  around,  a  heavy  wind  and  drift  drove  us  into  a 
snow  house  for  shelter.  Through  the  driving  snow  we 
could  see  a  black,  smoking  band  of  water  extending 
across  our  path  and  blocking  our  way  to  the  westward. 
"How  far  north  does  that  thing  run?"  was  the  all- 
imjjortant  question  as  we  drank  our  black,  sweetless  tea, 
and  chewed  strips  of  dried  narwhal. 

The  first  man  up  in  the  morning  reported  clear 
weather  and  the  lead  extending  only  a  few  miles.  The 
dogs  were  now  ravenous,  not  having  been  fed  since 
we  left  Cape  York,  150  miles  to  the  south.  Every  cor- 
ner must  be  cut  and  every  chance  taken.  E-took-a-shoo 
and  I  directed  our  course  straight  westward  toward  the 
edge  of  open  water;  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  and  Ihrlli  hugged 
the  shore  for  safety.  Skirting  the  edge  of  open  water, 
we  gained  the  strait  between  Herbert  and  Northum- 
berland Islands,  and  here  became  confused  in  the 
darkness  and  the  extremely  rough  ice  caused  by  the 
swirling  tides  and  currents  of  this  section,  which  is  recog- 
nized as  one  of  the  most  dangerous  on  the  coast.  While 
we  were  endeavoring  to  effect  a  passage  here,  we  were 

10 


140      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

joined  by  the  other  two  sledges,  which  had  crossed 
the  Sound  far  to  the  north. 

At  length  we  emerged  from  a  maze  of  bergs,  holes,  and 
snowbanks,  and  concluded  to  make  camp  on  the  west- 
ern shore  of  Northumberland  Island.  All  harnesses  were 
removed  from  the  dogs;  coats,  boots,  whips,  skins  were 
taken  into  the  igloo;  and  the  sledges  were  stacked  up 
against  the  cliff  out  of  reach  of  the  starving  dogs.  If 
the  weather  j>ermitted,  they  would  be  fed  at  our  next 
station,  forty  miles  away.  Five  days  of  hard  work,  and 
on  one  of  those  days  covering  a  hundred  miles,  is  quite 
enough  to  give  a  dog  an  appetite. 

We  were  off  in  the  morning,  determined  to  make  our 
distance.  That  march  in  the  moonlight  across  the  great 
white  expanse  of  sea  ice  between  Northumberland 
Island  and  Cape  Chalon  (Peteravik)  stands  out  promi- 
nently in  my  memories  of  five  years  of  Arctic  work.  We 
drove  from  behind  with  whip  and  voice;  I  mingled  with 
my  dogs  and  cheered  them  on;  then  I  rushed  far  out 
ahead,  to  whistle  and  call.  I  resorted  to  every  expedi- 
ent to  place  another  mile  under  our  feet.  The  tired, 
weakened  dogs,  with  drooping  heads  and  straight  tails, 
plodded  wearily  on,  the  perfectly  empty  sledge  crawling 
at  a  snail's  pace  behind  them. 

Gradually  all  the  sledges  dropp>ed  into  the  gray  light 
far  in  the  rear;  I  was  alone.  I  held  the  course  steadily 
toward  black-striped  Cape  Chalon.  There  the  Eski- 
mos were  in  camp  and  must  have  meat.  Fearful  lest  I 
might  miss  the  igloos  in  the  dark,  the  dogs  were  directed 
toward  the  front  of  the  Clements  Markham  Glacier 
with  the  intention  of  following  closely  the  shore  north- 
ward. 

The  jaded  dogs  smelled  home  long  before  the  lighted 


1915]  TO  UPERNAVIK  AND  BACK  141 

skin  window  burst  into  view.  Tails  and  ears  came  up, 
the  pace  quickened;  and  then  came  that  glad  short 
dash  over  the  tidal  crack  through  the  broken  shore  ice 
to  the  level  ice-foot. 

In  addition  to  the  two  rock  igloos  occupied  by  Sipsoo 
and  Oo-quee-a  there  were  three  snow  houses  in  which 
were  Panikpa,  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa,  and  Ka-shung-wa. 
My  dogs  had  dropped  to  sleep,  as  usual,  each  one  a  furry 
ball,  never  barking,  begging,  or  whining  for  food.  Panik- 
pa started  toward  them  with  the  frozen  hind  leg  of  a 
walrus,  planning  to  chop  it  up  and  feed  them  piece  by 
piece.  The  old  king-dog  became  dimly  conscious  of 
the  fact  that  something  was  coming,  and  jumped  to  his 
feet.  In  a  flash  his  half-awakened  team-mates  stood 
beside  him,  as  stiff  as  statues.  When  that  incredulity 
turned  to  conviction,  the  positiveness  that  at  last  food 
was  near,  together  with  the  medley  of  yelps  came  a 
mighty  leap,  tearing  the  hitching-strap  from  its  ice 
fastening,  and  an  overpowering  rush.  Panikpa,  the 
meat,  and  the  dogs  were  a  pulling,  tugging,  snarling  black 
mass.  It  was  some  minutes,  and  then  only  with  con- 
siderable difficulty,  before  the  three  could  be  differen- 
tiated, and  this  was  only  accomplished  by  dragging  the 
meat  toward  the  hole  in  the  ice,  where  the  dogs  were 
refastened  and  fed. 

E-took-a-shoo  arrived  in  about  an  hour.  The  other 
two  sledges  had  given  up  and  had  gone  in  toward  Nerky. 

While  we  were  resting  our  dogs  here  on  February 
6th,  two  of  my  Eskimos  constructed  one  of  the  largest 
snow  houses  which  I  have  ever  seen.  It  was  twelve  feet 
in  diameter  and  eight  in  height.  It  was  my  intention, 
after  driving  to  Etah,  to  return  here,  join  in  the  walrus- 
hunt,  and  put  my  dogs  in  condition  for  Ekblaw. 


142      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

On  the  7th  we  started  for  Etah  and  encountered  the 
usual  strong  wind  and  smothering  drift  on  the  glacier. 
When  at  last  I  reached  Borup  Lodge  I  learned  that 
Green  and  Allen  were  both  under  the  doctor's  care,  the 
former  in  bed,  a  complete  breakdown  following  a  futile 
attempt  to  advance  a  def>ot  of  supplies  for  our  spring 
trip.  Green  had  attempted  Arctic  work  contrary  to  the 
advice  of  his  physician.  Thus  far  his  enthusiasm  had 
held  him  to  his  work;  but  when  homesickness  replaced 
enthusiasm,  then  the  natural  result  followed. 


VIII 

TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR 

THE  carrying  out  of  our  plans  for  spring  work  dur- 
ing 1915  dej>ended  largely  uj>on  the  date  of  Tan- 
quary's  arrival  and  up>on  the  condition  of  the  purchased 
dogs.  If  dogs  and  Eskimos  could  be  secured,  it  was  my 
desire  to  send  Ekblaw  to  Grant  Land  by  way  of  Eureka 
Sound,  as  he  had  planned;  Tanquary  to  the  Lake 
Hazen  region  as  a  supporting  party  to  Ekblaw  by  way 
of  Kane  Basin  and  Kennedy  Channel;  Hunt  to  the 
Peary  Channel  with  Freuchen;  while  I  would  go  to 
King  Christian  Island  far  to  the  west. 

I  considered  Ekblaw's  trip  the  most  important  of  all, 
and  was  ready  and  willing  to  sacrifice  all  the  others, 
if  need  be,  in  order  that  it  might  be  carried  out. 

On  February  12th  Doctor  Hunt  left  with  Oo-bloo-ya 
in  response  to  a  hurry-up  call  from  sick  Eskimos  at 
Peteravik.  An  influenza  of  some  kind  or  other  was 
raging  up  and  down  the  coast,  resulting  in  a  few  cases 
of  pneumonia,  which  carried  off  Kud-la  in  a  few  days. 
Fright  was  about  as  harmful  as  the  disease.  The  doctor 
returned  on  the  15th  and  reported  all  the  Eskimos  much 
better  and  well  supplied  with  meat.  He  at  once  began 
preparations  for  his  ice-cap  trip.  Mene,  the  New  York 
Eskimo,  arrived  with  Doctor  Hunt  and  was  very  re- 


144    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Mar. 

pentant  over  his  failure  of  the  year  before.  He  urgently 
requested  that  he  be  given  another  trial  and  be  per- 
mitted to  accompany  Hunt  to  the  Peary  Channel. 

On  the  14th,  to  reassure  Ekblaw  of  the  certainty  of 
his  trip,  about  which  he  had  been  worrying  consider- 
ably, I  turned  over  to  him  all  my  dogs  and  gave  him  a 
free  hand  to  help  himself  to  any  or  all  of  the  equipment 
and  supplies  of  the  expedition.  He  left  on  the  16th  for 
the  south  to  visit  Eskimos  and  improve  the  condition 
of  his  dogs  at  Peteravik. 

Encouraged  by  the  daily  glow  of  light  along  the  sum- 
mit of  our  thousand-foot  hills  to  the  south,  I  walked  to 
the  top  of  Thermometer  Hill,  1,100  feet  above  the  sea, 
for  a  first  view  of  the  1915  sun.  There  it  was,  just 
above  Cap>e  Alexander,  after  its  long  absence  of  126 
days,  partly  obscured  in  the  mist  rising  from  the  open 
water  south.  In  a  few  days  now  it  would  be  streaming 
into  our  front  windows. 

Uix)n  the  arrival  of  Ekblaw,  Ah-now-ka,  and  I-o- 
pung-ya  on  the  26th  we  learned  that  very  few  walrus 
had  been  killed  by  the  Eskimos  and  that  the  dogs  were 
starving  all  along  the  line — not  an  encouraging  ref>ort, 
and  one  which  prompted  me  to  drive  down  at  once  with 
sledge  loaded  with  trading  material,  hoping  to  condition 
all  the  dogs  that  were  scheduled  to  start  on  the  western 
trip  in  March  with  Ekblaw  and  his  men.  Forty  below, 
a  keen  wind,  and  a  very  slipi>ery  southern  sloi>e  on  the 
glacier  added  to  the  interest  and  excitement  of  the  jour- 
ney. Neither  the  dogs  nor  the  men  could  keep  their 
feet,  resulting  in  a  grand  mix-up,  and  the  unmixing  called 
for  patience  in  the  suj)erlative  degree. 

Ujwn  my  arrival  at  Peteravik,  to  my  surprise  I  found 
E-took-a-shoo  and  E-say-oo,  the  two  men  engaged  to 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  145 

go  with  Ekblaw,  very  much  discouraged  over  the  con- 
dition of  their  dogs;  they  didn't  think  they  could  take 
the  trip.  Upon  my  suggestion  that  they  permit  their 
dogs  to  rest  for  a  week  or  so,  promising  to  trade  for  and 
provide  meat,  they  felt  better  and  agreed  to  start  on 
schedule  time. 

The  Eskimos  gather  here  every  spring  after  they  have 
used  up  all  their  cached  meat,  to  hunt  walrus  and 
bearded  seal  in  the  open  water  offshore.  It  is  the  great 
annual  picnic  of  the  tribe,  where  stories  of  the  hunt  are 
told  and  retold  by  the  long,  black-haired  warriors; 
where  the  latest  gossip  is  punctuated  with  sly  winks  and 
bursts  of  laughter  from  the  chewing  women;  where 
games  are  played  and  stunts  performed  by  red-cheeked, 
foxskin-clad,  laughing  children. 

It  was  between  forty  and  fifty  below  for  ten  days, 
and  yet  the  children  laughed  and  played,  apparently  as 
unconcerned  as  our  children  upon  a  summer  day.  When 
meat  is  plentiful  I  can  imagine  this  to  be  by  far  the 
happiest  time  of  the  year,  and  I  can  see  them  reluc- 
tantly packing  their  sledges  in  April  to  separate,  per- 
haps for  the  year,  for  their  resj>ective  homes  a  hundred 
miles  apart;  and  to  remain  separated  until  hunger  again 
brings  them  to  Peteravik. 

Every  favorable  day  found  the  men  and  boys  far  out 
at  the  edge  of  the  ice,  watching  the  surface  of  the 
black,  smoking  leads,  ready  to  battle  royally  for  rich, 
red  meat.  Great,  fierce-looking  heads  break  the  sur- 
face, the  powerful  ivory-white  tusks  standing  out  in 
strong  contrast  against  the  massive  black  necks.  The 
fur-clad  hunters,  with  harpoons  tightly  gripped  in  their 
right  hands  and  coils  of  rawhide  lines  in  their  left,  whis- 
per excitedly,  crouch,  and  emit,  in  imitation,  the  dis- 


146    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Mar. 

cordant  deep  grunt  of  the  walrus.  The  heads  turn  at 
the  familiar  cry,  rise  slightly  out  of  water,  dive,  and 
with  vigorous  strokes  boldly  proceed  toward  the  dark 
mass  at  the  edge  of  the  ice.  As  the  heads  break  water 
again  there  is  a  swish  of  flying  harpoons  and  trailing 
line.  An  angry  snort  and  a  mighty  splash!  Quickly  the 
iron-pointed  "toque"  is  driven  deep  into  the  ice  through 
a  loop  in  the  end  of  the  harpK)on  line,  and  then  the 
struggle  begins,  a  battle  which  sometimes  lasts  for  hours ! 
How  about  your  twenty -pound  salmon  on  an  eight-ounce 
rod?  We  have  here  a  two-thousand-p>ound  bunch  of 
plunging  muscle  on  a  quarter-inch  singing,  humming, 
twanging  rawhide  line!  And  not  for  pure  sp>ort  is  the 
struggle  waged,  but  often  for  the  life  of  the  starving  dogs 
and  for  the  very  existence  of  the  pinch-faced  wife  and 
children  snuggled  up  for  warmth  in  a  snow  house  be- 
neath the  cliffs. 

And  even  when  the  quarry  has  been  secured  and 
partly  dismembered,  there  may  come  a  hurried  cry  of 
warning,  a  dropping  of  the  meat,  a  rush  toward  dogs 
and  sledge,  a  snapping  of  whips,  a  race  for  life  against 
a  change  of  wind  and  a  breaking  up  of  the  sea  ice. 
Rushing  from  far  offshore  one  day  in  the  midst  of  an 
excited  throng,  I  was  astonished  by  the  sudden  break- 
ing up  of  ice  and  the  tumultuous  rising  and  falling  of  the 
different  sections  over  a  surface  which  a  few  minutes 
before  had  been  so  placid.  Yes,  it  is  a  precarious  existence 
which  these  polar  children  lead,  but  a  glorious  one! 
How  much  grander  and  nobler  to  fight  the  primeval 
elements  of  the  Northland  than  the  enervating  diseases 
of  the  South! 

Meat  came  in  very  slowly.  There  were  rep>orts  from 
Kee-et-tee  of  the  Eskimos  being  compelled  to  eat  their 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  147 

dogs  and  burn  their  sledges.  Pihlockto  (a  form  of  rabies) 
was  in  the  pack,  and  the  dogs  were  dying  every  day. 
There  were  also  rumors  of  another  strange  disease 
lately  arrived  from  South  Greenland,  with  which  the 
dogs  sickened,  "became  weak  and  emaciated,  staggered, 
and  did  not  get  up  again.'* 

All  the  Eskimos  agreed  that  this  was  the  hardest 
year  they  had  ever  known.  I  saw  my  own  plans  and 
hopes  dwindling  to  nothing.  All  now  depended  upon 
Tanquary  and  his  new  dogs,  plodding  northward  from 
Upernavik. 

By  the  16th  Ekblaw's  dogs  were  in  splendid  shape, 
full  of  life,  jumping  and  tugging  at  their  hitching- 
straps,  which  they  had  not  left  from  the  time  of  my 
arrival.  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  got  away  for  Etah  with  a 
load  of  meat  and  a  note  to  Ek,  telling  him  to  expect 
me  in  a  few  days. 

The  cold  weather  had  broken.  The  temperature  had 
risen  to  twenty-three  below  zero.  On  the  floor  of  our 
snow  house  it  stood  at  just  zero;  at  the  level  of  my  head 
when  seated  upon  the  bed  platform  it  was  fifty-three 
above,  a  temj>erature  which  was  made  possible  through 
the  skin  lining  of  the  house  that  retained  the  heat  and 
shed  all  drip. 

On  Thursday,  March  18th,  at  six  in  the  morning, 
there  was  a  "Hello,  Mac!"  at  the  window.  Tanquary 
had  come  at  last — but  with  badly  frosted  feet.  He  was 
optimistic,  as  usual,  declaring  that  he  would  be  all 
right  in  ten  days.  One  glance,  however,  at  the  frozen 
toes  convinced  me  that  he  was  through  for  a  while. 
He  followed  my  advice  and  left  at  once  for  Etah,  in 
company  with  three  Eskimos,  where  he  could  avail 
himself  of  the  services  of  Doctor  Hunt. 


148    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Mar. 

The  trip  from  Peteravik  to  Borup  Lodge  on  Friday, 
March,  19th,  driving  fourteen  dogs  in  the  pink  of  con- 
dition, was,  to  say  the  least,  exhilarating.  In  spite  of 
the  fact  that  my  sledge  was  loaded  heavily  with  walrus 
meat,  the  dogs  went  out  of  Peteravik  like  a  whirlwind, 
and  up  the  coast  as  if  the  evil  spirit  of  the  North  were 
behind  them. 

A  beautiful  day  on  the  Crystal  Palace  Glacier — ^too 
good!  What  did  it  mean.^*  I  was  soon  to  learn.  My 
dogs,  reaching  the  summit  of  the  divide,  leaj>ed  into 
their  traces  for  a  record  run  down  to  the  sea.  Having 
broken  my  whip,  I  yelled,  pleaded,  coaxed,  and  even 
whistled  for  them  to  stop.  When  about  to  slow  down, 
my  white  bitch,  snapped  her  trace  and  was  oflf,  with 
her  big  bushy  tail  waving  good-by!  Now  there  was 
no  stopping  the  team.  Clinging  to  the  upstanders,  braced 
back  to  the  limit,  with  my  feet  firmly  planted  between 
the  runners  as  a  brake,  we  skimmed  the  surface,  pitched 
down  the  sharp  slope  leading  to  the  trough  between 
the  glacier  and  the  cliff,  and  landed  in  a  deep  hole  on  a 
pile  of  rocks.  Wearily  and  somewhat  battered,  I  re- 
gained my  feet  and  glared  at  the  dogs  innocently  licking 
their  feet.  Then  came  a  distant  roar,  the  sound  of 
E-took-a-shoo's  voice,  and  a  swish,  as  leaping  dogs, 
sledge,  and  a  stocky  form  barely  missed  the  hole  and 
shot  down  the  valley.    A  fine  day  on  the  glacier! 

A  cutting  wind  and  drift  at  the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs 
frosted  the  face  of  every  man.  The  dogs,  however,  ^ere 
in  such  fine  condition  that  they  did  not  need  much 
urging,  and  kept  the  trail  so  admirably  that  we  turned 
our  backs  and  yielded  to  their  guidance. 

Ekblaw  and  his  six  Eskimos  finally  got  away  at  nine 
o'clock  on  March  24th.    At  six  o'clock  the  party  re- 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  149 

turned  because  of  violent  winds  and  drift  beyond  Sun- 
rise Point.  Another  trial  on  the  25th  resulted  in  a 
second  return.  The  dogs  could  not  face  the  drift.  The 
party  left  finally  and  successfully  on  the  evening  of  the 
26th,  having  waited  impatiently  through  two  whole 
days  for  wind  and  drift  to  subside. 

Two  men  were  to  return  from  the  head  of  Bay  Fiord, 
two  from  far  up  Eureka  Sound,  and  two,  E-took-a-shoo 
and  E-say-oo,  were  to  accompany  Ekblaw  for  the  whole 
distance. 

Tanquary  was  plainly  out  of  the  game.  Hunt's 
plans  depended  upon  the  wishes  of  Freuchen;  mine 
upon  the  condition  of  the  dogs  purchased  by  Tanquary 
and  left  at  Nerky.  Harnessing  a  few  pups  and  cripples. 
Hunt  and  I  started  for  Nerky  and  Peteravik  on  a 
reconnaissance.  Fifty-nine  Eskimos  were  assembled  at 
the  latter  place,  nearly  one-quarter  of  the  whole  tribe, 
all  driven  from  their  home  in  southern  villages  by  lack 
of  food.  Sledges  were  coming  every  day,  rep>orting 
caches  empty,  and,  because  of  the  vast  extent  of  the  sea 
ice,  game  was  scarce  and  difficult  to  secure. 

On  the  evening  of  the  day  of  our  arrival,  Ah-we-gee-a 
drove  in  with  the  survivors  of  Tanquary's  team,  fifteen 
out  of  twenty.  Perambulating  skeletons!  How  Tan- 
quary ever  drove  them  from  Upernavik  to  Cap>e  York 
I  do  not  know.  All  honor  to  Tank!  Two  were  plainly 
dying;  the  others  were  far  from  optimistic.  Meat  was 
what  they  wanted,  and  this  was  given  them,  just  as 
much  as  dog-biscuit,  tobacco,  and  oil  would  buy.  They 
gradually  regained  their  strength,  as  was  evidenced  by 
the  elastic  step,  the  straightening  of  the  hooi)ed  spine, 
the  erect  carriage  of  the  body,  and  the  wagging  tails — 
they  were  dogs  again. 


150    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

The  annual  sickness,  imported  with  the  mail  from 
the  south  every  spring,  was  now  prevalent;  nearly  all 
the  Eskimos  were  vomiting  and  many  had  diarrhea — 
the  heavy  tax  imjwsed  ujwn  the  germ-free  native  in 
return  for  the  comforts  and  luxuries  of  his  white  brother 
in  the  South. 

"Every  morning  these  hardy  hunters  hitched  their 
dogs  to  their  sledges  and  headed  out  over  an  apparently 
interminable  field  of  ice  toward  the  open  sea  below  the 
distant  horizon.  Eagerly  the  wives  and  children  watched 
the  whiteness  for  a  returning  black  dot,  which,  as  it 
approached,  often  develoj>ed  into  tired  dogs  and  an 
empty-handed,  frost-bitten  driver,  driven  homeward  by 
the  bitter  winds  sweeping  from  the  Greenland  glaciers 
oflF  toward  the  south.  Or  on  a  luckier  day,  the  heavy 
load  of  frozen  red  meat  would  be  met  and  escorted 
triumphantly  into  the  snow  settlement  by  a  troop  of 
stray  dogs  and  expectant  little  ones. 

These  men  were  struggling  for  existence  under  condi- 
tions which  daily  resulted  in  ice-stiffened  traces,  frozen 
boots,  frozen  mittens,  scarred  faces,  and  black  hair 
turned  snow-white  with  frost!  I  determined  to  go  and 
see  for  myself  how  the  struggle  was  carried  on.  On 
April  10th,  Tung -we,  Teddy- ling -wa,  Mene,  and  I 
sledged  to  the  edge  of  open  water  far  to  the  south. 
And  now  not  a  track  or  crack  or  smallest  hole  escaped 
these  ever-watchful,  sharp  eyes.  The  native  finds  meat 
and  fives  where  you  and  I  would  see  nothing  and  "die. 
Tung-we,  apparently  as  unobservant  as  myself,  grabbed 
his  sealing -iron  and  coil  of  rawhide,  sprang  from  his 
moving  sledge,  ran  ten  yards  to  the  right,  and  half 
inclined  his  body  over  a  two-inch  hole  in  the  surface 
of  the  ice.     We  held  our  course  steadily  in  order  to  re- 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  151 

move  all  scent  from  the  immediate  vicinity.  Upon 
looking  back  at  the  end  of  a  half-mile,  we  saw  Tung-we 
raise  his  harpoon,  plunge  it  downward,  and  struggle  to 
check  the  rawhide  line  now  slipping  through  his  hands. 
We  drove  back  at  full  speed  to  be  in  at  the  death,  but 
before  reaching  it  a  hundred-pound  seal  (Phoca  foetida) 
lay  wriggling  upon  the  ice.  He  had  returned  to  one  of 
his  many  breathing-holes  to  be  killed  by  the  wary 
Tung-we.  Only  a  mouthful  for  our  forty-four  dogs,  but 
a  very  acceptable  one,  seeing  that  the  Eskimos  were  to 
travel  for  sixteen  hours,  only  stopping  now  and  then 
to  untangle  the  traces.  On  and  on  and  out  we  went 
through  broken  ice,  over  thin  ice,  and  along  the  edge 
of  smoking,  black  leads. 

At  midnight  we  hitched  our  dogs  and  proceeded  on 
foot,  listening  and  scanning  the  surface  of  every  pool. 
At  two  o'clock  we  went  back  over  extremely  thin  ice. 
At  three  the  sun  rose,  a  lurid,  distorted  ball  mounting 
through  the  heavy  vapor.  A  rest  of  two  hours  cuddled 
up  in  a  cleft  in  the  ice,  hot  tea,  and  then  on  again  wear- 
ily and  drowsily  dogging  the  heels  of  those  tireless 
hunters. 

At  length  a  large  walrus  was  discovered  asleep  on 
the  rapidly  moving  drift  ice  some  300  yards  away.  I 
thought  it  was  positive  suicide  to  approach  him  over  such 
a  treacherous  surface.  Yet  Mene  and  Teddy-ling-wa, 
without  the  slightest  bit  of  hesitation,  made  their  way 
from  cake  to  cake,  now  and  then  carefully  gliding  across 
dark,  bending  ice,  up  to  within  twenty  yards  of  the 
ponderous,  sleeping  bulk,  and  here  they  were  blocked 
by  an  impassable  stretch  of  water.  We  saw  them  now 
flat  on  their  breasts  with  sighted  rifles.  Two  sharp  re- 
ports were  followed  by  a  tremendous  splash  as  the  2,000 


152    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

pounds  of  meat  disappeared,  to  be  lost  beneath  the 
surface. 

In  the  mean  time  Tung-we  and  I  were  following  the 
moving  mass  of  drift  ice  slowly  along  the  edge  of  the 
unbroken  field,  very  much  concerned  over  the  safety  of 
the  other  two  men.  Gradually,  the  intervening  black 
strip  of  water  widened,  cutting  ofiF  their  escape.  To  the 
south  an  iceberg,  against  the  outer  edge  of  which  the 
moving  field  was  crushing  and  grinding,  might  serve  as 
a  bridge.  Running  to  the  summit,  we  signaled  the 
men  to  make  their  way  to  this  pK)int,  which  they  reached 
after  several  narrow  escap>es,  dripping  with  j>erspiration, 
both  breaking  through  and  filling  their  boots  on  the  very 
last  step. 

Within  a  few  minutes  after  landing,  a  herd  of  ten 
walrus  appeared  on  the  surface,  sixty  yards  away.  In- 
stantly we  all  crouched  and  uttered  the  far-reaching, 
guttural  cry  with  hands  to  mouth.  "They  are  coming!" 
whisi>ered  Tung-we,  grasping  firmly  harix)on  and  coil, 
and  planting  his  feet  solidly  in  the  slippery  ice.  Run- 
ning backward  to  embrace  the  whole  scene  in  the  finder 
of  my  graflex  camera,  I  awaited  the  climax.  The  action 
began  with  a  swirl,  followed  by  a  mass  of  grim,  ugly 
faces  at  the  very  feet  of  the  hunters — so  near,  in  fact, 
that  the  men,  astounded,  were  caught  unawares,  de- 
layed action  for  a  few  seconds,  and  then  excitedly  hurled 
their  harp>oons.  The  harpoon  of  Tung-we  plunged  over 
their  heads  and  backs;  that  of  Mene  stopped  suddenly 
in  mid-air  and  fell  harmlessly  flat  down.  Tung-we,  dis- 
gusted and  ashamed,  expressed  himself  as  befitting  the 
occasion.  Mene  grinned  sheepishly  upon  discovering 
that  he  was  standing  upK)n  a  flake  of  his  coil. 

Hungry  and  sleepy,  we  reached  land  on  the  night  of 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  158 

the  12th  with  empty  sledges,  boots  and  mittens  frozen, 
and  traces  a  ball  of  ice.  We  had  tried  for  thirty-six 
hours  and  had  returned  beaten — a  common  experience 
in  the  life  of  the  Smith  Sound  hunter. 

On  the  12th,  Hunt,  in  training  now  for  a  bear-hunt 
in  lieu  of  his  abandoned  ice-cap  trip  with  Freuchen, 
started  on  a  twenty-five-mile  walk  to  Etah,  sleeping 
with  the  Eskimos  at  Sulwuddy,  ten  miles  away,  the 
first  night  and  covering  the  remaining  distance  on  the 
second;  he  reached  home  about  two  hours  previous  to 
our  arrival  from  Peteravik,  which  we  had  left  with  our 
dogs  that  morning. 

Our  dogs  were  now  in  fair  condition,  and  it  was  de- 
cided that  Hunt  should  accompany  his  favorite  Eskimo, 
Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  to  the  musk-ox  grounds  beyond  the 
heights  of  Ellesmere  Land  for  specimens.  Ah-now-ka 
and  I  would  take  a  run  up  the  Greenland  coast  in  search 
of  p>olar  bears,  usually  found  off  the  Humboldt  Glacier 
in  the  spring  of  the  year,  searching  in  cracks  in  the 
ice  and  at  the  base  of  bergs  for  their  natural  food,  the 
seal.  We  were  off  together  on  Sunday,  April  18th. 
Rough  ice,  however,  in  the  vicinity  of  Cape  Ohlsen,  so 
badly  shattered  Hunt's  sledge  that  he  was  compelled 
to  return  to  Etah  with  his  Eskimo  for  a  new  one,  while 
Ah-now-ka  and  I  pitched  our  tent  at  Cape  Ohlsen  to 
await  their  return  on  the  morrow. 

Both  parties  proceeded  northward  again  in  the 
morning,  and  called  at  Littleton  Island  for  a  cache  of 
eider-duck  eggs  left  there  the  preceding  June.  The 
sea  ice  north  of  the  Polarises  winter  quarters  near  Life 
Boat  Cove  was  extremely  rough,  resulting  in  very  slow 
progress  to  Ka-mowitz,  our  usual  first  camping-place. 
In  the  morning  we  bade  good-by  to  the  western  party. 


154    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

which  headed  due  west  out  over  the  ice  of  Smith  Sound, 
while  we  proceeded  northward,  following  the  ice-foot 
closely,  stopping  at  night  for  two  hare  and  a  ptarmigan 
which  we  saw  on  the  hillside. 

From  Force  Bay  northward  the  ice-foot  along  this 
coast  is  truly  a  revelation.  I  have  never  seen  anything 
like  it  anywhere  else  in  the  Arctic  regions.  Kane,  in  his 
narrative,  often  speaks  of  the  ice-foot  in  the  vicinity 
of  his  winter  quarters,  but  does  not  begin  to  describe  its 
wonders  or  the  tremendous  advantages  which  it  offers 
for  rapid  travel. 

The  formation  of  this  so-called  ice-foot  or  ice-collar, 
even  in  our  best  and  latest  text-books,  is  inaccurately 
described.  Snow  has  no  part  whatever  in  its  building. 
After  it  is  once  formed,  falling  and  drifting  snow  may 
lodge  thereon  and  add  to  its  apparent  bulk.  The  ice- 
foot proper,  however,  never  exceeds  in  height  that  of 
the  highest  tide,  and  it  is  slowly  built  up  from  low- 
water  mark  by  accretion,  each  receding  tide  leaving 
its  congealed  dep>osit.  An  ice-foot  may  form  in  the 
same  way  on  the  j>erfectly  vertical  face  of  a  cliff  where 
snow  could  not  possibly  lodge.  And  in  the  same  fashion 
it  may  furnish  passing  sledges  with  a  good  but  often 
dangerous  highway. 

The  width  of  an  ice-foot  depends  entirely  upon  the 
angle  of  the  sloi>e  from  high-water  to  low-water  mark, 
varying  from  the  narrow  ledge  clinging  to  the  vertical 
face  of  a  cliff  to  the  broad  marge  resting  upon  a  gently 
sloping  beach,  often  200  yards  in  width  and  as  smooth 
and  level  as  a  floor.  The  last  is  descriptive  of  what  is 
to  be  encountered  all  along  that  northern  shore  from 
Force  Bay  to  the  Humboldt  Glacier,  contrary  to  what 
one  would  exj)ect  to  find  beneath  the  almost  vertical 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  155 

cliffs,  500  feet  in  height,  that  mark  the  abrupt  termina- 
tion of  the  plateau  which  stretches  back  for  twenty  or 
thirty  miles  to  the  edge  of  the  Greenland  ice-cap. 

These  stratified  cliffs  are  highly  interesting  in  their 
massiveness,  in  their  gradation  and  variation  of  color, 
and  in  their  outstanding,  towering  pillars  formed  by 
weathering.  This  is  the  locality  of  the  famous  Tenny- 
son Monument,  so  named  by  Kane  in  1853.  Long  and 
diligent  search,  however,  failed  to  discover  it,  but  we 
found  others  equally  as  interesting  and  remarkable  in 
shaj>e. 

Although  he  was  only  a  young  boy,  I  depended  up>on 
Ah-now-ka  and  his  trusty  rifle  for  fresh  meat  for  our- 
selves and  dogs.  We  descried  our  first  seal  on  the  ice 
on  April  21st.  This  he  failed  to  secure  because  of  the 
impatience  of  his  dogs,  which  resulted  in  a  rush  forward 
and  the  consequent  disappearance  of  the  seal. 

The  first  evidence  of  the  Doctor  Kane  party  was 
seen  at  Cap>e  Lnglefield;  it  consisted  of  three  cairns 
and  a  circular  wall  which  the  boy  informed  me  had 
been  built  by  white  men  many,  many  years  ago.  Later, 
other  cairns  were  found  all  the  way  from  Rensselaer 
Harbor  up  to  Cai>e  Scott.  We  saw  only  one  fresh  bear 
track  during  our  short  trip;  we  followed  it  for  several 
hours  but  without  result. 

At  a  point  about  ten  miles  beyond  Caj)e  Leip>er  we 
left  a  cache  of  food  in  anticipation  of  a  future  trip,  and 
started  back  down  the  coast  for  Anoritok.  We  found 
the  ground  of  this  settlement  littered  with  e'idene  of 
civilized  man — an  old  cook-stove,  rubber  hose,  a  barrel, 
jx)ts,  buckles,  hinges,  leather,  bottles,  and  other  rub- 
bish.    An  unusually  large  number  of  old  Eskimo  igloos, 

eight  in  all,  indicated  that  this  was  at  one  time  a  thriv- 
11 


156    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [May 

ing  and  prosperous  village.  Facing  to  the  southwest 
and  protected  by  high  hills  from  the  cold  northerly 
winds,  it  oflFers  a  delightful  spot  for  a  settlement,  for 
in  summer  the  grass  must  be  long  and  green,  the  air 
warm  and  sunny,  and  the  waters  teeming  with  life. 

We  reached  Borup  Lodge  on  the  28th  of  April,  and 
learned  that  Arklio  and  Noo-ka-ping-wa,  Ekblaw's  first 
supp)orting  party,  had  returned,  each  having  killed  a 
bear  and  many  musk-oxen.  Letters  from  Ekblaw  in- 
formed us  that  all  was  well  thus  far  and  that  they  were 
proceeding  north  through  Eureka  Sound.  The  three 
sledge  tracks  which  we  noticed  on  our  return  as  go- 
ing north  proved  to  be  those  of  Mene,  Kai-6-ta,  and 
I-o-pung-ya  on  their  way  across  Smith  Sound  to  the 
hunting-grounds  of  EUesmere  Land. 

On  Monday,  May  3d,  Allen,  Tanquary,  and  Green 
began  counting  the  days  before  the  ship  would  arrive, 
sure  indication  of  a  longing  for  the  homeland.  "Ninety- 
one  more!"  was  the  count  on  that  day,  but  the  ninety- 
one  doubled  and  trebled  many  times  before  they  reached 
home. 

On  Friday,  May  7th,  Arklio,  Ah-now-ka,  and  I  were 
oflf  again  into  the  north  for  bears  and  a  visit  to  Rens- 
selaer Harbor,  Kane's  winter  quarters  of  1853-55.  Re- 
membering the  assertion  in  Doctor  Kane's  book  that  the 
distance  from  Etah  to  Rensselaer  Harbor  is  ninety 
miles,  I  could  scarcely  credit  Arklio's  statement  at  the 
end  of  our  second  day's  march  at  Bancroft  Bay,  that  in 
the  morning  we  had  passed  "the  bay  where  many  years 
ago  the  white  men  lived  in  a  ship  frozen  in  the  ice. 
He  went  on  tp  say  that  "here  she  remained  for  some 
time,  following  the  going  away  of  the  white  men  to 
the  south  in  two  small  boats;    and  that  the  Eskimos 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  167 

found  her  and  went  aboard  and  built  a  big  wood  fire 
on  the  cabin  floor  to  get  warm,  whereujKjn  the  ship  burned 
up.  What  a  loss  that  was  and  how  valuable  the  wood 
would  have  been  to  us  to-day!"  In  this  bay  we  found 
two  cairns  inclosing  the  records  found  by  the  Eskimos 
the  year  before,  one  left  by  Bonsall  and  the  other  by 
Doctor  Kane  himself. 

Our  experience  here  with  seals  soon  convinced  me  that 
Arklio  was  a  crack  shot  behind  the  little  screened  sledge, 
by  far  the  better  hunter  of  the  two  boys,  and  one  upon 
whom  we  could  depend  to  feed  our  dogs  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  trip.  He  killed  three  seals  in  a  few  hours, 
while  Ah-now-ka  wounded  four  and  lost  them  all.  It 
was  very  amusing  to  see  him  rush  toward  one  wounded 
seal  disappearing  into  his  hole  in  the  ice,  grab  his  hind 
flipi>er  in  his  teeth,  and  with  his  two  hands  struggle 
violently  to  pull  him  back,  at  the  same  time  trying  to 
attract  our  attention  by  yelling  to  us  with  his  mouth 
full  of  flipper.  Finally,  exhausted,  he  was  obliged  to 
let  the  seal  go. 

Another  search  of  Bancroft  Bay  on  the  11th  failed 
to  find  any  evidence  whatever  of  the  Doctor  Kane  party. 
Just  at  the  entrance,  however,  carved  uf>on  the  vertical 
face  of  a  rock,  I  was  thrilled  to  discover  a  large  letter 
"K"  cut  with  the  sharp  p>oint  of  some  kind  of  an 
instrument.  Undoubtedly,  sixty-two  years  before,  Doc- 
tor Kane  had  carved  this  p>ermanent  record  and  had  also 
built  the  demolished  cairn  a  few  feet  from  it.  But  the 
contents  of  the  latter  were  now  gone. 

Thursday,  May  13th,  was  a  wretched  day,  raining 
and  snowing  as  we  awoke.  In  hopes  of  a  bear,  we  packed 
up  and  plodded  on,  crossing  the  many  bays  and  in- 
dentations from  point  to  point  until  we  discovered  a 


158    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [May 

fresh  bear  track  off  Cap>e  Kent.  For  two  hours  we  fol- 
lowed this  closely  as  it  crossed  and  crisscrossed  from 
berg  to  berg  and  from  crack  to  crack.  Finally,  a  great 
yellowish-white  body  was  sighted  a  half-mile  away, 
plodding  through  the  snow  from  one  berg  to  another  in 
search  of  seals.  Within  a  few  minutes  he  stopped, 
lifted  his  nose,  sniffed  the  air,  and  was  away  toward 
the  south  with  a  long,  easy  lope.  Yell  as  we  would, 
shout  as  we  could,  not  an  inch  was  gained  for  some 
time.  Arklio  and  Ah-now-ka,  realizing  that  we  might 
possibly  lose  our  quarry,  finally  slipped  all  their  dogs, 
which  now  galloj)ed  along  the  trail  with  traces  flying. 
Yelling  at  my  dogs,  *^  Nan-nook-suah!  Nan-nook-suah!'* 
snapping  out  the  long  whip,  with  one  man  riding  on  my 
sledge,  and  two  running,  we  at  length  made  our  way 
through  a  mass  of  rough  ice  to  discover  a  large,  beautiful 
male  bear  surrounded  by  the  leaping  black  bodies  of 
the  dogs  as  they  rushed  in,  nipj)ed,  and  jumped  to 
one  side  to  avoid  the  glistening  white  teeth  and  the 
swish  of  those  powerful  forelegs.  It  was  evident  that 
not  a  dog  in  the  pack  wanted  to  come  to  close  quarters 
with  this  formidable-looking  animal;  in  fact,  we  met 
some  returning  along  the  trail. 

Slipping  the  remainder  of  the  dogs,  we  closed  in  with 
the  camera  and  with  the  rifles.  One  dog,  encouraged  by 
my  presence,  shot  in  a  bit  too  close.  The  slowly  wagging 
head  whipped  around  like  a  steel  spring.  He  grabbed 
the  dog  by  the  top  of  the  head,  whirled  him  arotmd 
like  a  pinwheel,  and  slammed  him  down  on  the  ice,  a 
misshapen  mass.  "That  dog  is  dead,"  I  said  to  my- 
self, winding  the  film  for  a  new  exp>osure,  but  within 
a  few  minutes  the  victim  was  a  hundred  yards  away 
with  a  determined  "I  am  going  home'*  look  on  his  face. 


KANE    RECORD    FOUND    ON    NORTH    GREENLAND    SHORE 
Note  thg  "  K  "  as  carved  by  Kane  in  1853. 


1 

^H 

1 

s^ 

-*    iTl 

n 

I^H 

^ 

^4 

ARROW    CARVED    ON    THE    SUMMIT    OF    FERN    ROCK    AT    RENSSELAER    HARBOR 
BY  KANE   EXPEDITION   TO    INDICATE    LOCATION    OF   GLASS   JAR    CONCEALED   IN 

A   CREVICE 


19151  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  169 

A  ninety-pound  dog  held  firmly  in  the  steel  jaws  of  a 
big  polar  bear  is  absolutely  helpless.  Finally  a  .22  h.-p. 
Savage  did  its  work  and  did  it  quickly,  as  all  killing 
should  be  done. 

In  this  first  bear-fight  with  untried  dogs  there  were 
many  surprises.  Poor  old  Blinky  Bill,  mild  and  meek- 
looking  as  a  sheep,  proved  to  be  a  hero  in  disguise.  In- 
offensive, never  mingling  with  the  rest  of  the  dogs, 
never  picking  a  quarrel,  thrashed  by  all,  he  fought  like 
a  demon,  nipping,  rushing,  and  jumping  away  until  he 
was  fairly  wabbly  on  his  legs.  After  the  fight  was  over 
he  retired  modestly  behind  a  lump  of  ice  to  nurse  a 
thigh  ripped  completely  oj>en.  One  dog,  a  bully,  sup- 
posed to  be  a  born  scrapp>er,  became  actually  crazy  with 
fright  at  the  first  slight  dig  he  received.  He  did  not 
appear  to  know  where  he  was,  and  wandered  off  for 
half  a  mile,  where  he  perched  on  an  iceberg  and  howled 
dismally.  Animals  evidently  are  just  as  deceiving  as 
men  when  it  comes  to  a  test  of  courage. 

Our  bear  measured  eight  feet  from  nose  to  tail,  six 
feet  in  circumference,  and  four  feet  around  the  neck. 
So  with  dogs  filled  to  repletion  and  sledges  loaded  with 
meat  and  the  rolled-up  skin,  we  took  the  back  trail 
to  the  spot  where  our  sledges  and  camping  equipment 
had  been  abandoned.  We  pitched  our  tent  in  falling 
rain,  hail,  and  snow  which  continued  all  through  the 
next  day. 

We  cached  our  meat  and  skin  on  the  15th  under  the 
snow  and  proceeded  toward  the  face  of  the  Humboldt 
Glacier,  so  named  by  Doctor  Kane  after  Alexander  von 
Humboldt,  the  great  naturalist  and  scientist.  This 
glacier,  one  of  the  largest  in  the  Arctic  regions,  stretches 
into  the  north  for  a  distance  of  some  fifty  miles;   it  is 


160    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [Mat 

not  at  all  impressive  in  its  frontal  face,  only  rising  from 
the  sea  ice  to  a  height  of  thirty  or  forty  feet.  The  many 
bergs  dotting  Peabody  Bay  evidenced  its  activity  dur- 
ing the  summer  months.  Soft,  deep  snow,  the  result  of 
the  last  two  days'  storm,  turned  us  southward  toward 
home.  Then  we  saw  our  first  glaucous  gull  and  heard 
our  first  snow-bunting,  harbingers  of  spring  and  of  the 
long,  delightful  summer  to  come.  Arklio  shot  a  large 
seal  which  furnished  us  with  plenty  of  meat  for  our 
dogs. 

A  long,  hard  pull  of  eleven  hours  through  soft  snow 
all  over  Advance  Bay  and  in  and  out  among  the  islands, 
looking  for  bear,  seal,  and  cairns  of  the  Kane  Expedi- 
tion, netted  us  only  two  hares  and  one  small  seal,  which, 
strange  to  say,  we  discovered  wallowing  through  deep 
snow  far  from  his  hole.  Where  the  little  fellow  thought 
he  was  bound,  it  is  hard  to  say.  Ah-now-ka  ran  ahead 
and  gathered  him  up  in  his  arms  before  the  leaping, 
excited  dogs  could  injure  him.  He  cuddled  down  in  his 
lap  as  if  he  had  at  last  found  what  he  was  looking  for, 
a  good,  warm,  comfortable  place. 

Upon  our  arrival  at  Cairn  Point,  we  learned  that 
Hunt  and  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  had  returned  from  the 
hunting-ground  in  EUesmere  Land  with  five  bears  and 
fifteen  musk-oxen,  a  very  good  and  profitable  trip.  On 
the  21st  we  were  at  Borup  Lodge  again,  although  com- 
j)elled  by  open  water  to  cross  the  land  from  the  Polarises 
winter  quarters  to  Etah  by  way  of  the  river  valley,  a 
course  we  took  many  times  during  the  four  years  when 
the  conditions  by  sea  were  not  favorable. 

At  Etah  we  found  a  spring  migration  party  of  nineteen 
people,  who  were  to  proceed  seventy-five  miles  up  the 
coast  in  a  few  days  to  build  their  homes  at  Marshall 


1915]  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  161 

Bay.  Anoritok,  as  well  as  Etah,  has  often  been  reported 
to  be  the  most  northern  settlement  of  the  Smith  Sound 
tribe.  In  times  past,  however,  Eskimos  have  inhabited 
the  whole  stretch  of  coast-line  from  Etah  to  the  Hum- 
boldt Glacier,  as  shown  by  the  large  number  of  old  igloos 
we  found  upon  this  coast  during  our  four  years'  work. 
But  the  Eskimos  had  not  attempted  a  settlement  be- 
yond Anoritok  for  a  great  many  years  until  this  party 
proceeded  up  the  coast  to  try  their  fortunes  where  some 
of  their  ancestors  had  lived.  They  were  certain  of 
plenty  of  caribou  meat  and  skins,  but  not  so  sure  of 
the  much-needed  walrus  meat  for  their  dogs,  of  the  skin 
of  the  bearded  seal  for  their  boot  soles,  and  that  of  the 
ringed  seal  for  their  coats  and  boots.  Their  fortunes 
during  the  subsequent  months  at  this  far  northern  spot 
answered  the  question  as  to  why  this  coast  had  been 
deserted  years  ago  by  the  natives.  They  returned  to 
our  house  in  the  spring,  poorly  clothed  and  literally 
starving. 

When  he  left  Etah  for  the  long  spring  trip,  Ekblaw 
intended  to  proceed  over  the  top  of  Ellesmere  Land, 
north  through  Eureka  Sound,  east  through  the  Greely 
Fiord,  and  thence  to  the  Lake  Hazen  region  and  old 
Fort  Conger  headquarters  of  the  Greely  Expedition, 
returning  home  by  way  of  Kennedy  Channel,  Peabody 
Bay,  and  Smith  Sound.  Before  his  departure  I  had  as- 
sured him  of  a  supporting  party  to  aid  him  on  the  re- 
turn trip;  not  that  he  would  need  food,  for  he  would 
pass  through  one  of  the  best  game  countries  in  the 
world,  but  he  might  possibly  require  fresh  dogs  for  the 
last  lap  of  a  long  journey,  as  we  did  in  1914.  Doctor 
Tanquary  was  to  be  in  charge  of  this  work,  proceeding 
northward  to  Fort  Conger  through  the  Kane  Basin  and 


162    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [Mat 

Kennedy  Channel,  where  he  would  meet  Ekblaw  and 
return  with  him  south  to  Etah.  His  frozen  feet  and  the 
subsequent  amputation  of  two  big  toes  had  compelled 
him  to  give  up  all  thoughts  of  spring  work  and  had 
kept  him  closely  confined  to  the  house.  Green  now  was 
in  fair  shape  and  was  willing  to  undertake  the  trip. 
On  the  23d  he  got  away,  accompanied  by  two  of  our 
best  Eskimos,  Arklio  and  Oo-bloo-ya,  with  instructions 
to  proceed  to  Fort  Conger,  to  furnish  Ekblaw  with  dogs 
to  relieve  him  of  whatever  skins  he  might  have  collected, 
and  then  to  return  south  to  Etah. 

During  May  and  June  we  were  very  busy  adding  to 
our  collection  of  bird  skins  and  eggs,  and  we  were  es- 
pecially fortunate  in  securing  one  fine  set  of  the  eggs 
of  the  white  gyrfalcon  {Falco  islandus)^  very  difficult  to 
obtain  in  this  north  country,  as  the  bird  builds  its  nest 
high  up  on  the  face  of  the  inaccessible  cliffs. 

On  Thursday,  May  23d,  we  placed  five  letters  inclosed 
in  bottles  on  the  surface  of  a  big  berg  off  Sunrise  Point; 
one  to  the  New  York  Tribune,  one  to  President  Osborn 
of  the  American  Museum,  and  three  "To  the  Finder.** 
Now  that  our  wireless  had  failed,  we  would  try  one  of 
the  oldest  methods  of  communication  by  trusting  our 
mail  to  the  ocean  currents. 

A  bottle  with  note  which  I  dropped  in  Baffin  Bay  in 
1909  made  its  way  in  six  months  to  the  Old  Kinsale  Life- 
saving  Station  on  the  coast  of  Ireland.  It  was  picked 
up  by  the  patrol  and  returned  to  me  with  the  inforpia- 
tion  requested  as  to  the  locality  and  time  found,  to- 
gether witii  the  friendly  words:  "I  would  like  to  drink 
to  the  health  of  Commander  Peary  and  his  gallant  crew. 
In  joyful  anticipation  I  thank  you.'*  Another,  thrown 
into  the  waters  off  Cape  Cod,  was  returned  in  two 


19151  TO  RENSSELAER  HARBOR  163 

months  by  a  French  boy  living  on  the  shores  of  Nova 
Scotia. 

Some  thirty  notes  in  all  were  cast  into  the  sea  at 
Etah,  well  wrapped  and  inclosed  in  small  oaken  barrels, 
strongly  headed  and  covered  with  a  good  coat  of  copper 
paint.  Possibly  at  some  future  time  these  may  be 
recovered,  following  their  long  trip  at  sea. 


IX 

WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP 

OUR  second  spring  with  its  continual  day  was  now 
up>on  us.  The  big  glaucous  gulls  (Larus  hyper- 
horeus)  were  sailing  on  outstretched  wings  along  the  face 
of  the  cliffs,  ever  ready  to  pounce  upn^n  one  of  the 
myriads  of  dovekies  {Alh  alle)  which  filled  the  air  with 
wheeling  black  dots  and  a  volume  of  music.  The 
Eskimo  tupiks  were  being  erected  one  by  one.  Sledges, 
black  with  women  and  children,  were  passing  up  and 
down  the  fiord.  One  was  of  more  than  passing  interest. 
Five  small  pups  were  straining  at  a  heavily  loaded  sledge 
containing  our  bath-tub;  and  in  the  bath-tub  were  two 
undried  bearskins,  two  children,  two  babies,  and  three 
women. 

Fine  weather  and  spring  restlessness  tempted  me  out 
onto  the  trail  again — another  thorough  search  of  Rens- 
selaer Harbor  for  the  remains  of  the  Elisha  Kent  Kane 
Exj>edition.  A  careful  search  at  Cairn  Point  failed  to 
disclose  the  "K"  burnt  on  the  rock  with  powder;  ^the 
cairn,  however,  was  easily  found. 

The  run  from  Etah  to  Rensselaer  Harbor,  up  to  that 
time  the  most  northern  habitation  of  man,  was  easily 
accomplished  in  two  marches.  What  a  flood  of  book 
memories  came  over  me  as  we  rounded  Sylvia  Head- 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  165 

land  so  often  mentioned  by  Kane!  There  lay  Butler 
Island,  Fern  Rock,  the  receding  terraces,  the  group  of 
rocky  islets!  Along  this  shore  the  little  brig  Advance 
was  pulled  and  coaxed  into  her  icy  cradle  to  remain  for 
two  long  years  and  then  finally  abandoned.  And  along 
this  shore  Doctor  Kane,  in  retreat,  had  sledged  the  in- 
valids south,  followed  by  Lds  crew  in  the  drag-ropes, 
pulling  their  two  boats  toward  the  open  water  beyond 
Etah. 

Running  to  the  top  of  Observatory  Island,  I  first 
discovered  the  grave  of  Sch.ubert  and  Baker — a  mass  of 
rocks  filling  a  natural  crevice.  How  well  I  remembered 
reading,  years  ago  in  the  appendix  of  Doctor  Kane's 
book,  "On  the  highest  point  of  the  island  ...  is  a  deep- 
ly chiseled  arrow-mark  filled  with  lead."  I  looked  down 
at  my  feet  and  found  myself  almost  standing  on  the 
arrow!  In  the  middle  of  the  arrow  was  a  deeply  chiseled 
hole.  Consulting  the  narrative,  I  find:  "Near  this  [the 
grave]  a  hole  was  worked  into  the  rock  and  a  paper 
inclosed  in  glass,  sealed  in  with  melted  lead."  Lead, 
papery  and  glass  were  missing.  Possibly  they  had  been 
taken  by  Bryant,  of  the  Charles  Francis  Hall  Expedi- 
tion, who,  when  in  winter  quarters  at  Polaris  Beach  near 
Life  Boat  Cove  in  1872-73,  visited  Rensselaer  Harbor. 

Everything  was  as  described  by  Kane,  even  the  "en- 
larged crack  five  feet  due  west  of  above  arrow."  In 
memory  of  America's  first  Arctic  explorer,  I  inserted  my 
ice  lance  in  the  hole  of  the  "deeply  chiseled  arrow-mark," 
and  to  the  top  of  it  fastened  the  American  flag  intrusted 
to  my  care  by  the  Kane  Masonic  Lodge  of  New  York 
City.  Sixty  years  had  gone  by  since  these  cliffs,  whit- 
ened shores,  and  islets  had  looked  upon  the  Stars  and 
Stripes.     Sitting  there  on  the  summit  of  Fern  Rock  on 


166    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [June 

the  sunlit  day,  I  visualized  that  20th  of  May,  1855. 
There  only  a  few  yards  away  lay  the  dismantled  brig 
solidly  embedded  in  the  harbor  ice;  fluttering  from  the 
topmast-head,  the  red,  white,  and  blue;  standing  upon 
the  deck  ready  for  the  long  march  to  the  south,  Doctor 
Kane  and  his  sixteen  men,  scurvy  riddled,  but  taking 
this  last  and  only  chance  for  their  lives. 

Oiir  last  farewell  to  the  brig  was  made  with  more  solemnity. 
The  entire  ship's  company  was  collected  in  our  dismantled  winter 
chamber  to  take  part  in  the  ceremonial.  It  was  Sunday.  Our 
moss  walls  had  been  torn  down  and  the  wood  that  supported  them 
burned.  Our  beds  were  off  at  the  boats.  The  galley  was  unf  iu*nished 
and  cold.     Everything  about  the  Uttle  den  of  refuge  was  desolate. 

We  read  prayers  and  a  chapter  of  the  Bible;  and  then,  aU  stand- 
ing silently  round,  I  took  Sir  John  Franklin's  portrait  from  its  frame 
and  cased  it  in  an  India-rubber  scroll,  ...  I  then  addressed  the  party; 
I  did  not  affect  to  disguise  the  difficulties  that  were  before  us;  but 
I  assured  them  that  they  could  all  be  overcome  by  energy  and  subor- 
dination to  command,  and  that  the  thirteen  hundred  miles  of  ice  and 
water  that  lay  between  us  and  North  Greenland  could  be  traversed 
with  safety  for  most  of  us  and  hope  for  all.  .  .  . 

We  then  went  upon  deck;  the  flags  were  hoisted  and  hauled 
down  again,  and  our  party  walked  once  or  twice  aroimd  the  brig, 
looking  at  her  timbers  and  exchanging  comments  upon  the  scars 
which  reminded  them  of  every  stage  of  her  dismantling.  Our 
figurehead — the  fair  Augusta,  the  Uttle  blue-eyed  girl  with  pink 
cheeks  who  had  lost  her  breast  by  an  iceberg  and  her  nose  by  a  nip 
off  Bedevilled  Beach — ^was  taken  from  our  bows  and  placed  aboard 
the  Hope.  "She  is,  at  any  rate,  wood,"  said  the  men  when  I  hesitated 
about  giving  them  the  additional  biu"den,  "and  if  we  cannot  carry 
her  far  we  can  bum  her."  .  .  . 

No  one  thought  of  the  mockery  of  cheers;  we  had  no  festival  liquor 
to  mislead  our  perception  of  the  real  state  of  things.  *" 

It  may  be  of  interest  to  know  that  "the  fair  Augusta, 
the  little  girl  with  pink  cheeks,"  was  not  used  for  wood, 
but  was  jealously  guarded  and  cared  for  throughout 
that  long  retreat  across  the  ice-infested  waters  of  Mel- 


WITH  THE  FEEL  OF  THE  WARM  SUN  ON  HIS  BODY  HE  GURGLES   WITH    DELIGHT 


THE   END   OF   THE   DAY 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  167 

ville  Bay  and  is  now  at  rest,  after  her  adventures,  in 
the  trophy  room  of  the  Kane  Masonic  Lodge  of  New 
York  City. 

I  looked  long,  photographed,  and  familiarized  myself 
with  every  detail  of  that  historic  spKjt.  The  two  tower- 
ing portals  at  the  entrance,  the  stratified  cliffs  in  black 
and  white,  the  terraces  receding  east  to  the  Greenland 
ice-cap,  the  river  mouth  leading  to  the  sinuous  valley, 
the  ice-girded  rocky  shores — all  are  stamped  indelibly 
upon  my  memory. 

Reluctantly  we  aroused  our  sleeping  dogs,  turned  the 
bows  of  our  sledges  toward  Sylvia  Headland,  snapped  our 
whips,  and  wended  our  way  southward.  Looking  back, 
I  could  imagine  the  harbor,  awakened  from  its  long  sleep 
and  rubbing  its  eyes,  to  be  watching  us  until  we  turned 
from  view;  and  then  alone  to  settle  down  again  into  the 
quietness  and  deathlike  stillness  of  the  Great  White 
North. 

On  June  4th  we  were  back  again  at  Borup  Lodge, 
busily  engaged  in  developing  negatives,  skinning  birds, 
blowing  eggs,  and  attending  to  the  thousand  and  one 
things  which  are  always  in  waiting. 

Tanquary,  a  cripple  and  suffering  exceedingly  with 
the  unhealed  stubs  of  his  frozen  toes,  pluckily  as- 
sisted in  whatever  way  j)Ossible.  Jot  constructed  a 
kayak  for  him  so  that  he  could  keep  in  good  health  by 
exercise. 

Hunt,  strong  physically  and  fond  of  the  water,  was 
up  and  away  to  the  hills  or  the  islands  every  day,  add- 
ing materially  to  our  ornithological  collection. 

Allen,  ever  ready  to  do  what  I  requested,  had  been 
sent  in  company  with  Ak-i>ood-a-shah-o  120  miles  down 
the  coast  to  the  great  bird-rookery  at  Saunders  Island 


168    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

for  moving  pictures.  Much  of  the  12,000  feet  of  film 
brought  back  by  the  expedition  is  the  result  of  his  pa- 
tience, energy,  and  skill. 

On  June  16th,  Ekblaw  and  his  supporting  party  ar- 
rived from  the  north.  He  had  finished  his  thousand- 
mile  trip  in  excellent  health  and  looked  tough  and  as 
brown  as  a  berry.  He  had  covered  the  280  miles  from 
Fort  Conger  in  nine  marches,  with  his  dogs  apparently 
in  good  condition,  relinquishing  his  plans  for  botanical 
work  in  the  vicinity  of  Rensselaer  Harbor. 

Allen  and  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  came  driving  down  the 
fiord  on  their  return  from  the  south  on  the  23d.  I  had 
worried  considerably  over  Jerome's  proi>ensity  for  climb- 
ing and  getting  on  top  of  things,  and  as  they  approached 
I  closely  scanned  the  sledge  and  everything  on  it  with 
my  field-glass,  to  see  if  everything  seemed  all  right.  A 
pair  of  crutches  hanging  from  the  upstanders  brought 
forth  the  exclamation,  "Jerome  has  broken  his  leg!'* 
But  the  crutches  proved  to  be  only  snow-shoes. 

Bubbling  over  with  enthusiasm  over  his  wonderful 
trip  and  varied  and  exciting  experiences,  he  had  much 
to  tell  us.  The  trip  over  the  glacier  had  been  interest- 
ing, the  rush  down  exciting.  There  were  happy  Eskimos 
at  all  the  villages;  fifty  live  narwhal  in  a  lead  only  a  few 
yards  distant! 

At  one  village  he  was  suddenly  discovered  in  his 
photographic  changing-bag  made  of  two  heavy  blankets 
which  enveloped  him  completely.  One  very  corj?ulent, 
temj>eramentally  excitable  Eskimo  lady  threw  up  both 
arms,  let  out  a  shriek,  and  fled  incontinently  to  the  hills 
in  her  endeavor  to  escape  from  this  misshap>en  monster! 

An  Eskimo  boy  had  tried  to  shoot  a  man.  It  ap- 
peared that  the  boy  was  insulted  upon  being  told  that 


a'  "^ 

■1,  o 

S^  o 

i  w 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE   SHIP  169 

he  was  not  a  man.  To  prove  his  manhood  he  decided 
to  shoot  some  one;  therefore  he  selected  as  his  victim 
the  insulter's  brother!  His  aim  was  as  erratic  as  his 
temperament.     They  both  still  live. 

By  the  last  of  June  little  auks  (Alle  alle),  black  guille- 
mots (Cepphus  mandti),  eider  ducks  (Somateria  molissima 
borealis),  the  brant  (Branta  hernicla  glaucogastrd) ,  the 
long-tailed  duck  {Harelda  hy emails),  the  snow-bunting 
{Plectrophenax  nivalis  nivalis),  the  wheat-ear  (Saxicola 
oenanthe  leucorhoa),  and  the  burgomaster  gull  (Lams 
hyperboreus)  were  all  laying  their  eggs.  Deep  rivers 
were  flowing  through  the  valleys;  water  was  tumbling 
from  the  cliffs;  salmon  trout  were  passing  to  and  from 
Alida  Lake;  the  rapidly  melting  harbor  ice  lay  glittering 
in  the  warm  ever-revolving  sun.  Another  long,  delight- 
ful Arctic  summer  was  here  with  its  manifold  oppor- 
tunities for  work,  and  work  with  a  distinct  pleasure. 
Always  the  day  was  too  short  and  the  period  of  sleep 
too  early.  So  much  to  do  and  so  little  time  in  which 
to  do  it! 

"What  fun  high  up  on  the  cliffs,  crawling  and  creep- 
ing on  the  narrow  ledges,  often  with  body  pressed  tightly 
against  the  face  of  the  rock,  hunting  for  the  eggs  of  the 
white  gyrfalcon,  the  raven,  and  the  big  burgomaster 
gull!  And  what  a  swish  of  diving  white  bodies  and 
extended  wings  as  one  approached  nest  and  eggs  and 
young! 

Impatient  at  the  slow  wearing  away  of  the  edge  of  the 
sea  ice  now  extending  far  beyond  the  outer  islands,  we 
launched  our  sail-dory  on  July  6th  in  an  open  p>ool  be- 
yond Sunrise  Point  and  sailed  away  toward  the  shores 
of  Littleton  Island  on  our  annual  egg-collecting  picnic. 
To  our  surprise,  because  of  a  recent  snow-storm  we 


170    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [July 

found  very  few  eggs  in  the  nests,  and  got  only  fifteen 
hundred. 

On  the  8th  Jot  and  I  awoke  in  our  little  tent  in  Cache 
Cove  to  find  it  blowing,  raining,  and  snowing.  Here  un- 
doubtedly was  the  site  of  the  Beebe  cache  of  1882  and 
of  the  relief  cache  left  by  Seabury  in  1883  for  the  ill- 
fated  Greely  party.  On  the  southern  side  of  the  island, 
while  searching  for  eggs  of  the  sea-pigeon,  I  was  de- 
lighted to  discover  the  remains  of  the  coal  cache  left  by 
Lieutenant  Lockwood  of  the  Lady  Franklin  Bay  Ex- 
pedition of  1881  when  on  its  way  to  headquarters  in 
the  far  North.  Here  Lieutenant  Greely  had  instructed 
that  records  should  be  left,  one  in  the  top  of  a  coal-pile 
and  one  under  its  inner  edge,  for  the  guidance  of  the 
relief -ships,  should  they  fail  to  reach  him  in  1882  and 
1883.  On  the  southwest  corner  of  the  island  were  the 
remains  of  the  cairn  of  Doctor  Kane,  the  cairn  of  the 
British  Exj>edition  of  1875,  and  the  cairn  of  Sir  Allen 
Young  where  mail  was  left  by  him  for  Sir  George  Nares 
in  1876. 

There  were  many  names  carved  on  the  surface  of  the 
rock.  We  could  see  plainly  "Otto  Sverdrup,"  captain 
of  the  Fram;  also  in  big,  bold  letters  *'Erik,  1875,"  re- 
vealing the  fact  that  the  ship  which  had  brought  us 
hither  was  well  along  in  years,  since  she  had  visited 
this  spot  forty  years  before  in  the  character  of  a  Dundee 
whaler. 

On  McGary*s  Rock,  a  favorite  breeding-place  of  dftcks 
and  gulls,  we  found  two  hundred  eggs,  and  added  them  to 
our  stores  for  the  following  winter.  On  the  morning  of 
the  10th,  like  Shackleton's  penguins,  we  found  ourselves 
buried  deep  under  the  snow.  That  such  an  amount 
could  fall  within  a  few  hours  seemed  incredible.    Jot, 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  171 

from  his  hole  beneath  the  jib  of  our  boat,  called  that 
he  could  not  possibly  get  out.  Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  our 
Eskimo,  was  summoned  to  his  aid  and  affected  his 
release,  Jot  declaring  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  open  that 
the  snowflakes  were  as  large  as  postal  cards.  We 
covered  our  tanalite  tent,  altogether  unsuited  for  wet 
snow,  with  the  remains  of  an  old  miner's  tent.  The 
thickened  walls  gave  us  adequate  protection  against 
this  very  severe  midsummer  storm.  Once  more  we 
were  comfortable,  with  the  pot  full  of  eider  duck  and 
the  frying-pan  sizzling  with  bacon  and  delicious  eider- 
duck  eggs.  ' 

To  our  astonishment,  the  storm  continued  on  the 
11th  and  12th,  the  weather  being  boisterous,  with  heavy 
squalls  and  falling  snow.  The  Eskimos  declared  that 
such  a  prolonged  storm  at  this  time  of  the  year  was 
unprecedented.  They  had  never  experienced  nor  had 
they  ever  heard  of  such  a  storm  before.  All  the  nests 
were  buried,  and  the  birds  were  flying  disconsolately 
up  and  down  and  over  the  length  of  the  island,  search- 
ing for  a  bit  of  ground  and  a  future  home.  To  add  to 
our  troubles,  during  the  night  Torngak,  the  evil  spirit 
of  the  North,  attempted  to  rob  us  of  a  part  of  the  ice- 
foot and  our  two  boats.  Fortunately,  the  precaution 
which  I  had  taken  of  leading  a  long  rope  to  the  solid 
rocks  beyond  the  ice-foot  saved  them  from  destruction. 
"Look  for  the  best,  but  be  prepared  for  the  worst." 
This  should  never  be  forgotten  in  Arctic  work. 

On  the  morning  of  the  13th  there  were  signs  of  clear- 
ing, bearing  out  the  old  sailor's  belief  that  the  weather 
is  influenced  by  the  new  moon.  Three  narwhal  playing 
but  a  few  yards  away  brought  us  out  of  our  tent  with  a 

rush,  but  an  attempt  to  hari>oon  them  was  unsuccessful. 
12 


172    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [July 

On  the  afternoon  of  the  13th,  as  we  proceeded  up  the 
coast  in  our  kayaks  toward  Anoritok,  the  whole  sea 
was  a  molten  bed  of  silver  as  calm  and  placid  as  a 
mountain  pool.  A  beautiful  glow  over  the  heights  of 
EUesmere  Land,  with  here  and  there  a  golden-lit  peak 
and  a  deep  fiord  bathed  in  sunshine,  lent  to  the  whole 
scene  the  spirit  of  enchantment.  It  was  on  such  days 
that  one  got  homesick,  and  strange  to  say,  not  for  home 
and  friends;  one  regretted  the  near  approach  of  our 
time  of  departure  from  the  North  Country,  a  separation 
that  might  be  for  all  time. 

At  Anoritok  three  large  narwhal  and  a  happy  group 
of  Eskimos  were  congregated  at  the  edge  of  the  ice. 
Their  raw  narwhal-skin  was  a  delicacy,  yet  it  was  quickly 
laid  aside  for  the  dozens  of  golden  nuggets  which  we 
gave  them  from  the  nests  of  the  eider  duck.  It  was 
good  to  see  the  Eskimos  again,  to  hear  them  laugh,  and 
to  hear  them  tell  their  stories. 

On  the  18th  it  blew  great  guns  and  rained  atrociously. 
Happily  the  Eskimo  tupik  is  well  built  and  of  ideal 
shape  to  stand  the  onslaughts  of  the  wind  from  the  big 
hills;  with  its  covering  of  sealskin  firmly  braced  within 
by  its  many  poles  and  held  without  by  its  ring  of  heavy 
rocks,  it  stands  almost  as  a  part  of  Mother  Earth,  strong 
and  resisting  to  the  end. 

Within  a  few  feet  of  our  tent  sat  the  petrified  figure 
of  a  woman  huddled  in  skins,  looking  out  over  Smith 
Sound  covered  with  its  field  of  ice,  and  patiently  awaiting 
the  return  of  her  adopted  son,  a  small  polar  bear  which 
had  wandered  off  into  the  unknown  many  years  ag 
and  had  failed  to  return.  A  strange,  pathetic  figure  and 
one  which  enters  largely  into  the  tales  and  traditions  of 
the  Smith  Sound  tribe.     The  Eskimos  have  not  for- 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  178 

gotten  her  great  love  for  raw  meat,  which  once  the  bear 
so  faithfully  brought  to  her  on  his  return  from  his 
daily  hunt,  and  so  the  passing  hunters  often  apply 
to  the  mouth  of  the  disconsolate  mother  bits  of  fat 
for  her  sustenance.  Grease  spots  can  plainly  be  seen 
about  her  face  and  on  her  breast.  This  locality  I  regard 
as  one  of  the  most  interesting  places  ethnologically  in 
the  far  North;  with  its  many  old  igloos  it  bears  every 
evidence  of  having  been  inhabited  for  centuries  by  a 
very  old  p>eople.  Upon  the  ground  and  about  the 
igloos  is  a  heterogeneous  assortment  of  old  haipoons, 
killing-irons,  and  much  household  and  hunting  equip- 
ment. 

But  there  was  much  to  be  done  at  Etah.  Hundreds 
of  boxes  were  to  be  packed  in  preparation  for  the  coming 
of  the  ship;  thousands  of  jwunds  of  meat — walrus,  nar- 
whal, and  seal — ^must  be  secured  for  the  coming  winter. 
These  two  problems  confronted  us  for  three  years — 
preparations  for  going  home  and  the  uncertainty  of 
going,  thus  necessitating  the  obtaining  of  supplies  for 
the  coming  winter.  Boxes  were  packed  for  transjwr- 
tation,  and  at  the  same  time  eggs  were  cached,  food  was 
conserved,  the  hunt  carried  on,  and  much  put  away 
for  the  dark  winter  months. 

When  in  camp  on  Sunrise  Point,  on  the  last  day  of 
July,  with  one  Eskimo,  two  women  with  nursing  babies, 
and  one  little  girl,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  harjwoned  a  big 
bull  walrus.  We  yelled  for  the  women  to  pull  out  the 
sailing-dory.  How  they  managed  to  drag  this  twenty- 
one-foot  boat  for  some  forty  feet,  ship  the  unwieldy 
rudder,  and  row  off  to  us,  a  mile  away,  I  do  not  know. 
They  were  anxious  to  be  in  at  the  killing,  and  they  got 
all  they  wanted. 


174      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

I  have  seen  many  walrus  die,  but  never  one  so  hard. 
Wounded  again  and  again  by  the  kilHng-iron  and  shot 
at  least  six  times,  he  persisted  in  living.  I  understand 
now  why  the  explorer  of  old  declared  that  to  shoot  a 
walrus  was  impossible.  Finally,  the  wounded  walrus 
lay  on  his  back  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  placed  both 
front  flippers  up  over  his  head,  and  deliberately  covered 
his  eyes.  The  act,  though  accidental,  seemed  pathet- 
ically human.  If  I  could  have  given  him  back  his  life, 
I  would  have  gladly  done  so. 

The  n«xt  day  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  harp>ooned  a  cow  with 
young.  The  herd  remained  with  her,  leading  us  in  the 
dory  far  toward  the  south.  We  succeeded  in  grasping 
the  drag  after  some  hard  pulling.  To  this  we  fastened 
a  long  line  which  could  be  released  quickly  if  the  walrus 
should  pass  beneath  a  berg.  Twice  we  fastened  this 
line  to  a  floe-berg  to  retard  the  progress.  It  was  a 
strange  sight:  a  floe  harnessed  to  a  walrus  accompanied 
by  six  others;  and  on  the  floe  a  white  man  with  an 
Eskimo  very  much  excited,  the  former  armed  with  a 
harpoon,  the  latter  with  a  rifle;  and,  towed  by  the  floe, 
a  dory  containing  two  women  with  babies  on  their 
backs  and  a  small  girl.  The  babies  were  yelling,  the 
girl  was  wild-eyed,  and  the  two  women  were  vigorously 
pounding  the  rail,  one  with  a  dipper  and  the  other  with 
an  oar,  to  prevent  the  walrus  from  attacking  them.  In 
attempting  to  shoot  the  mother  the  young  walrus  was 
killed.  The  mother  at  once  turned,  gave  the  battle- 
cry,  and  charged,  followed  by  all  the  others.  For  a 
moment  the  situation  seemed  serious,  but  was  quickly 
relieved  by  the  shooting  of  the  mother  and  two  others. 

The  wind  was  now  increasing  and  the  tide  ebbing; 
quick  work  was  demanded  of  us  all.     Quickly  rigging 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  175 

an  Eskimo  purchase  by  chipping  a  hole  in  the  ice  and 
reeving  in  a  rope  of  rawhide,  four  of  us  pulled  the  large 
walrus,  which  weighed  at  least  1,000  p>ounds,  up  out 
of  the  water  and  onto  the  surface  of  the  ice.  While 
Ak-pood-a-shah-o  was  engaged  in  cutting  up  the  large 
walrus,  the  two  women  dissected  the  small  one  with 
two  pocket-knives,  the  babies  f>eeping  over  their  shoul- 
ders, as  much  interested  in  the  job  as  their  mothers. 
One's  education  begins  at  an  early  age  in  that  country. 

Loaded  to  the  rail  with  bloody  red  meat,  we  hoisted 
sail  and  squared  away  for  home,  landing  at  our  camp 
on  Sunrise  Point.  In  the  evening  a  narwhal  was  capt- 
ured measuring  thirteen  feet  ten  inches  in  length.  A 
baby  narwhal,  one  foot  in  length,  found  in  the  uterus, 
was  of  much  interest  to  me  and  to  the  Eskimos. 

The  summer  activities  may  be  summed  up  by  the 
following  quotation  from  my  field  journal: 

August  7th,  Saturday,  Pandora  Harbor. — We  arrived  here  at 
five  o'clock,  having  left  Etah  last  evening.  Jot  and  I  have  with  us 
two  Eskimos,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  and  Ah-now-ka.  Taking  every 
advantage  of  the  good  weather,  we  headed  straight  for  Cape  Alexan- 
der in  our  twenty-one-foot  sailing-dory.  A  failure  of  wind,  however, 
compelled  us  to  land  here  for  the  night. 

When  Ak-pKXKl-a-shah-o  was  engaged  in  stalking  a  seal  for  break- 
fast a  search  was  made  along  shore  for  old  igloos,  two  of  which 
were  found,  one  the  largest  I  have  ever  seen. 

Climbing  to  the  summit  of  Cape  Kendrick,  which  was  beautifully 
molded  many  centuries  ago  by  glaciers  spreading  outward  from  the 
Greenland  ice-cap  over  the  headlands  and  dropping  into  the  sea,  a 
long  and  diligent  search  was  made  for  a  possible  record  and  cairn 
left  by  the  officers  or  crew  of  the  Pandora,  which  ship  anchored  here 
for  a  few  days  in  the  summer  of  1876.  At  length  a  large,  substantial 
cairn  was  discovered.  Stone  by  stone  it  was  pulled  apart  without 
disclosing  the  least  trace  of  a  record. 

Two  or  three  other  mounds  of  rocks  led  me  to  a  closer  examina- 
tion. To  my  deUght,  they  were  the  best  constructed  stone  fox- 
traps  I  have  ever  seen.    At  least  ten  could  be  counted  from  one 


176      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

spot.  Judging  fnom  the  lichen-covered  rocks  and  the  general  ap- 
pearance and  shape  of  the  old  igloos  upon  the  shore,  the  inhabitants 
of  which  were  undoubtedly  the  builders,  I  should  say  these  traps 
are  at  least  seventy-five  or  a  hundred  years  old. 

Ak-pood-a-shah-o  tells  me  that  some  years  ago  he  had  no  bullets; 
consequently,  in  shooting  a  bearded  seal  he  used  a  large  nail  which 
passed  completely  through  the  skuU,  killiag  him  instantly. 

August  8th,  Sunday,  Retreat  Harbob. — Into  this  Uttle  bight  in 
the  land  came,  sixty-one  years  ago,  the  retreat  party  from  the  brig 
Advance,vfet  to  the  skin,  cold,  and  discouraged,  following  their  round- 
ing of  Cape  Alexander,  the  Cape  Horn  of  the  North. 

August  9th,  Monday. — To  have  clear  weather  is  certainly  a  novelty 
after  two  months  of  wind,  rain,  and  snow.  The  Eskimos  say  that 
the  great  war  in  the  south  where  men  are  killing  each  other  every 
day  is  the  cause  of  the  bad  weather. 

Two  Arctic  hare  can  be  seen  on  the  hill  back  of  our  tent.  Two 
white  whales  have  just  gone  to  the  soth'ard.     Game  everywhere. 

August  10th,  Tuesday,  Stjlwuddy. — Two  more  walrus  killed  to- 
day. A  rough  sea  prevented  use  of  kayak  and  compelled  us  to  use 
the  dory  after  stripping  her  of  everything  unessential.  There  has 
been  an  endless  stream  of  walrus  up  the  coast  throughout  the  day. 
Two  of  these  were  harp>ooned  and  shot.  The  beach  is  so  covered 
with  drift  ice  and  the  sea  so  heavy  that  a  landing  can  only  be  effected 
with  difficulty. 

Three  skulls  foimd  here  will  make  a  good  addition  to  our  ethnologi- 
cal collection.  One  grave  is  so  recent  that  I  will  not  disturb  it.  Out 
of  respect  for  the  memory  of  old  Ik-qua,  the  first  Eskimo  to  ever  come 
to  Peary  at  Red  Cliff,  one  shoiild  let  him  rest  in  peace  with  all  his 
treasures,  consisting  of  two  pictures  cut  from  a  newspaper,  one  blue 
metal  cup,  four  Eskimo  drills,  one  wooden  tube,  one  small  glass 
bottle,  and  an  old  rusty  gun.  How  many,  many  things  thrown  into 
the  ash-barrel  at  home  would  make  these  people  happy. 

We  are  keeping  a  constant  watch  on  the  southern  horizon  for 
signs  of  smoke,  indication  of  the  ship  from  home.  As  far  as  I  am 
concerned,  it  makes  very  Uttle  difference.  Three  of  the  boys  at  least 
would  be  terribly  disappointed  if  she  did  not  arrive.  For  their  sake 
I  hope  that  she  does. 

AuguM  11th,  Wednesday. — Two  more  big  walrus  to-day.  There 
were  so  many  in  front  of  the  glacier  that  for  some  time  we  did  not 
dare  to  attack  them.  On  the  way  down  one  followed  us  underwater 
and  struck  at  the  rudder  with  his  tusks,  causing  Ah-now-ka,  who 
was  steering,  to  hop  around  and  yell  like  a  maniac.  Some  distance 
beyond  the  herd  were  two  soimd  asleep,  standing  upright  in  the 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  177 

water,  with  head  and  tusks  well  back  and  out,  a  position  which  I 
had  never  seen  before.     The  sound  of  our  oars  aroused  them. 

At  length  we  steered  boldly  into  the  herd,  picking  out  a  large  bull 
with  a  Winchester  .33  special.  A  stream  of  blood  followed.  Pre- 
vious to  this  the  herd,  consisting  of  at  least  fifty,  looked  threateningly 
at  the  boat  several  times.  With  rifles  ready  now  we  rowed  into  them, 
following  the  blood.  Jot  stood  ready  with  a  harpoon  and,  when 
directly  over  the  wounded  animal,  threw  it.  It  failed  to  penetrate. 
As  he  described  it:  "God!  it  bounded  back  hke  a  pop-gun!  I  had 
to  dodge  to  get  clear  of  it."  The  walrus  disappeared,  headed  off- 
shore. Knowing  that  he  was  mortally  wounded,  we  followed  and 
found  him  lying  upon  the  surface  of  the  water,  face  down.  Creep- 
ing up  cautiously,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  hurled  his  harpoon  into  the 
round  black  mass  of  flesh.  There  was  not  even  a  tremor  in  his  body. 
He  was  stone  dead.  An  examination  revealed  a  hole  completely 
through  his  skull. 

A  male  eider  flew  up  to  our  tent  to-day  and  died.  They  are  com- 
ing our  way!     We  may  tame  a  few  before  we  leave. 

August  12th,  Thursday. — Thick  fog  all  day,  but  moderate.  Shall 
cut  up  walrus  this  evening. 

August  13th,  Friday. — During  the  night  we  have  killed  four  seals 
and  two  oog-jooks.  Ah-now-ka  harpooned  one  hve  seal  from  his 
kayak,  the  first,  I  think,  which  he  has  ever  killed  in  this  way.  Jot 
shot  a  bearded  seal  in  front  of  our  tent,  which  sank,  but  came  to 
the  surface  in  about  five  hours. 

Photographed  the  brick-red  stream  bursting  from  the  side  of  the 
big  glacier  to  the  south. 

Midnight,  Peteravik. — It  is  so  magnificent  here  that  I  am  glad 
we  came  down,  being  able  to  see  far  to  the  east,  even  to  the  end 
of  Cape  Parry.  On  the  way,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  killed  a  seal  and 
three  burgomasters.  One  Eskimo  skull  near  our  tent  adds  to  our 
collection.  Am  surprised  to  find  a  number  of  old  igloos  all  along 
this  coast,  igloos  which  have  not  been  occupied  for  centuries. 

Above  our  tent  a  pair  of  white  gyrfalcons  and  a  pair  of  ravens  are 
nesting. 

August  lliih,  Saturday. — Male  eider  ducks  can  scarcely  be  recog- 
nized at  this  season  of  the  year,  due  to  the  fact  that  it  is  the  molting 
season  and  all  wing  feathers  are  gone  completely. 

Sea-pigeons,  or  black  guillemots,  are  breeding  here  in  the  crevices 
of  the  cliff  up  to  a  height  of  at  least  eight  hundred  feet. 

August  15th,  Sunday,  Sulwtjddy. — We  are  back  here  again  on  the 
flood  tide  after  a  rather  exciting  trip  by  the  men  in  kayaks,  a  heavy 
swell  making  it  rather  dangerous  for  such  small  skin  boats. 


178     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

Ah-now-ka  and  I  have  had  a  good  talk  to-night.  He  tells  me  that 
a  long  time  ago  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  was  an  Angekok.  He  gained  this 
reputation  by  prophesying  the  arrival  of  a  ship  the  day  before.  He 
has  lost  that  p>ower  now,  consequently  his  fame.  There  is  only  one 
prophet  in  the  tribe  now,  Tau-chee-ah.  His  reputation  is  based  upon 
the  power  of  naming,  unseen,  whatever  object  may  be  touched. 
"Years  ago,"  continued  Ah-now-ka,  "a  woman  ran  away  from  her 
husband  and  from  every  one.  She  went  up  that  glacier  over  there. 
She  became  a  'kevig-tok,'  what  you  were  asking  us  about  yesterday. 
She  never  came  back.  She  hung  herself  by  her  hood  on  a  point  of 
rock.  She  choked.  Another  woman,  Ah-dah-ned-doo,  ran  away 
for  the  same  reason — her  husband  was  cross  and  beat  her.  She 
drove  up  the  Cape  Alexander  Glacier.  A  few  days  later  the  dogs 
returned,  but  no  one  has  ever  seen  her.  Some  say  she  was  taken  up 
into  the  sky  and  has  gone  far  away." 

August  16-17th,  Monday  and  Tuesday. — We  left  Hayes  Harbor  at 
four  o'clock  yesterday  afternoon,  working  along  toward  Sutherland 
Island,  where  we  stopped  for  two  hours  and  shot  a  few  eider  ducks. 
Getting  under  way,  we  came  around  the  cape  with  a  strong,  fair 
wind,  capsizing  one  kayak  and  with  difficulty  keeping  them  all 
right  side  up.  We  arrived  at  Etah  at  eleven  o'clock,  finding  the 
boys  anxious  for  news  from  the  south.  The  Eskimos  are  beginning 
to  arrive  from  Anoritok  in  anticipation  of  the  ship.  Others  are 
coming  as  soon  as  they  can  get  here. 

Tank's  kayak  is  done.  He  is  thoroughly  enjoying  himself  now  on 
every  calm  day. 

It  was  now  August  18tli,  and  we  felt  some  appre- 
hension as  to  the  non-arrival  of  the  relief-ship  which 
the  American  Museum  had  agreed  to  send  at  the  end 
of  two  years  and  which  I  had  requested  by  the  mail 
sledged  south  to  Uj)emavik  by  Tanquary.  My  men, 
longing  for  the  time  of  departure,  had  watched  the 
southern  horizon  from  early  morning  until  late^  at 
night.  Their  interests  were  in  the  homeland,  and 
rightly  so.  Two  years  is  a  long,  long  time  in  the  Arctic 
regions  unless  a  man  is  enthusiastic  over  that  strangely 
desolate  but  peculiarly  attractive  country.  Religiously 
and  faithfully  the  days  on  our  calendar  had  been  heav- 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  179 

ily  crossed,  a  shiny  black  square  obliterating  each  com- 
pletely, with  a  fervent  "Thank  God!'* 

"Work"  was  now  the  word.  To  maintain  our  health 
during  the  dark,  blustering  months  to  come,  meat  must 
be  secured — fresh  meat — the  great  and  efficient  prevent- 
ive of  that  formerly  dreaded  disease,  scurvy,  fatal  to 
hundreds  of  Arctic  men  and  thwarting  the  well-laid 
plans  of  many  a  commander.  It  is  an  insidious  malady 
and  but  little  understood  up  to  the  last  few  years;  it 
is  not  caused  by  subsisting  on  salt  meats  nor  by  not 
varying  the  diet  with  vegetables,  fruits,  acids,  and  the 
like,  nor  by  the  lack  of  exercise  and  uncleanliness  in 
habits;  it  is  chiefly  due  to  a  lack  of  the  so-called  vita- 
mines.  In  plain  words,  a  certain  proportion  of  one's 
food  must  consist  of  something  fresh. 

"I  lay  very  ill  for  a  month  and  thought  I  would 
die.  One  day  the  Lapp  saw  a  seal  and  he  ran,  carrying 
a  pail  with  him,  and  shot  it  and  caught  the  blood  in 
the  pail.  I  drank  that  and  immediately  began  to  re- 
vive. I  shall  now  get  well,"  relates  one  of  the  survivors 
of  a  party  of  four  found  in  Spitzbergen. 

The  deep-water  sailor  of  years  ago  ate  largely  of  so- 
called  "salt  horse";  scurvy  was  the  result.  The  vita- 
mines  were  lacking.  Lime-juice  was  considered  by  the 
medical  profession  as  a  sure  preventive;  consequently, 
laws  were  enacted  compelling  whaling-ships  to  issue  as 
a  part  of  the  daily  ration  this  anti-scorbutic,  hence  the 
term  "lime-juicer"  as  applied  to  this  type  of  craft. 
Some  years  ago,  seventeen  Arctic  men  were  found  dead 
among  an  abundance  of  food,  the  last  survivor  in  a 
sitting  p>osture,  dressed  in  furs,  holding  in  his  mittened 
hands  a  junk  of  salt  p>ork. 

On  the  British  Exj>edition  of  1875-76,  the  men  daily 


180      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

filed  aft  and,  in  the  presence  of  their  officers,  drank 
their  stipulated  amount  of  lime-juice;  practically  every 
man  was  afflicted  with  scurvy  within  less  than  a  year. 
It  is  of  interest  to  note  that  fresh  meat  was  issued  only 
twice  in  three  weeks.  According  to  Nares,  even  Nellie, 
Markham's  dog,  and  both  the  cats  plainly  showed  scor- 
butic symptoms. 

A  very  early  account  of  scurvy  by  Pigafetta,  the  his- 
torian of  Magellan,  is  of  interest: 

Our  greatest  misfortune  was  that  we  were  attacked  by  a  sort  of 
malady  which  caused  the  gums  to  swell  so  that  they  rise  above  the 
teeth  in  the  upper  and  lower  jaws  aUke,  and  those  who  are  attacked 
by  it  can  take  no  nourishment.  Nineteen  of  our  men  died  of  it, 
among  whom  were  the  Fatagonian  giant  and  a  Brazilian  whom  we 
had  taken  on  board.  Besides  the  dead  we  had  twenty-five  or  twenty- 
six  sailors  who  had  pains  in  their  legs  and  other  parts  of  their  body, 
but  they  recovered. 

All  on  board  of  Bering's  ship  had  the  scurvy.  She 
drifted  about  without  sail  or  helmsmen,  finally  entering 
a  cove  of  Bering  Island,  where  nearly  all  died  either  on 
board  ship  or  after  landing. 

Huddled  on  deck,  one  half  that  hardy  crew 

Lie  shrunk  and  withered  in  the  biting  sky. 

With  filmy  stare  and  lips  of  livid  hue. 

And  sapless  Umbs  that  stiffen  as  they  lie; 

While  the  dire  pest  scurge  of  the  frozen  zone 

Rots  through  the  vein  and  gnaws  the  knotted  bone. 

Although  our  relief-ship  might  pK)ssibIy  reach  Etah 
within  the  next  ten  days,  the  men,  now  thoroughly 
alarmed,  decided  to  aid  me  in  every  jx)ssible  way  in 
the  execution  of  plans  formulated  months  before  against 
a  non-arrival  by   September   1st.     On   the  20th  Jot, 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  181 

Allen,  Green,  and  Hunt  left  in  our  twenty-one-foot  dory 
for  the  hunting-grounds  below  Cape  Alexander,  followed 
on  the  21st  by  Ka-ko-tchee-a,  Ah-now-ka,  E-say-oo,  in 
kayaks,  and  myself  in  the  twelve-foot  punt.  Ekblaw 
and  Tanquary  remained  at  Borup  Lodge,  the  former  in 
charge  of  meteorological  work  during  our  absence. 

At  Retreat  Cove,  fifteen  miles  south,  we  overtook  the 
boys,  sound  asleep  in  camp.  We  carefully  removed  the 
sleeping-bags  belonging  to  my  Eskimos  from  the  dun- 
nage in  the  boat,  and  proceeded  on  to  Sulwuddy,  our 
objective  point,  eight  miles  below. 

The  boys  joined  us  at  noon  of  the  22d. 

Walrus  are  generally  very  numerous  in  this  locality. 
Many  were  passing  along  the  shore,  and  large  herds 
were  feeding  in  the  shallow  water  uj>on  their  staple 
food,  bivalved  molluscs,  the  Mya  truncata  and  the 
Saxicava  rugosa,  rooted  out  of  the  sand  and  mud  with 
their  long  ivory  tusks.  As  a  result,  when  the  walrus 
are  killed  they  often  furnish  the  Eskimos  with  a  nice 
fresh  mess  of  shelled  clams  readily  obtained  from  the 
stomach  and  eaten  raw.  Other  foods  of  the  walrus 
are  sandworms,  starfishes,  shrimps,  and  even  seals, 
as  shown  by  meat  and  strips  of  skin  found  in  the 
stomach. 

Known  as  the  sea-horse,  or  morse,  a  hundred  years 
ago,  and  of  prodigious  size  and  in  incredible  numbers, 
the  walrus  figure  largely  in  Arctic  history,  being  greatly 
prized  for  the  value  of  the  ivory  tusks  and  the  tre- 
mendously strong  hide.  The  Greenland  tithes  of  more 
than  600  years  ago  were  paid  in  "ox-hides,  sealskins, 
and  walrus  ivory." 

"They  paid  their  tribute  to  the  Crusades  in  the  shape 
of  walrus  tusks,  delivered  at  Bergen  in  1327,  and  their 


182     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

weight  is  noted  on  a  receipt  which  is  still  in  existence." — 
(Rink.) 

The  old  Muscovy  Company  fitted  out  many  a  vessel 
for  Cherie  Island,  nearly  midway  between  Spitzbergen 
and  Norway.  Here  as  high  as  1,000  walrus  were  capt- 
ured by  the  crew  of  a  single  vessel  in  one  hour,  some 
of  them  fourteen  feet  in  length  and  weighing  3,000 
pounds.  Such  a  slaughter  would  be  imp>ossible  in  the 
water,  and,  therefore,  they  must  have  been  discovered 
sunning  themselves  and  asleep  upon  the  land,  a  well- 
known  custom  of  these  animals  centuries  ago.  One 
of  the  earlier  expeditions  j)enned  up  500  alive  and  kept 
them  [prisoners  for  several  days.  Our  early  writers  re- 
ported them  in  large  numbers  uj>on  the  islands  of  the 
Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence.  I  saw  a  large  herd  upon  the 
land  in  1908,  lying  u|K)n  the  northern  shore  of  Eider 
Duck  Island. 

There  is  evidence  to  show  that  walrus  were  at  one 
time,  probably  during  the  glacial  period,  numerous 
along  our  Atlantic  coast  as  far  south  as  Virginia.  They 
were  seen  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  as  late  as  1839. 
To-day  only  a  few  are  seen  as  far  south  as  Okak  on  the 
Labrador. 

An  amusing  account  by  DeVeer,  an  early  writer  of 
northern  voyages,  is  highly  interesting: 

The  sea-horse  is  a  wonderful  strong  monster  of  the  sea,  much 
larger  than  an  ox,  which  keeps  continually  in  the  seas,  having  a  ^in 
like  a  sea  calf  or  seal,  with  very  short  hayre,  mouthed  hke  a  lion; 
and  many  times  they  he  upon  the  ice;  they  are  hardly  killed  unless 
you  strike  them  just  upon  the  forehead;  it  hath  four  feete  but  no 
eares,  and  commonly  it  hath  young,  one  at  a  time.  And  when  the 
fishermen  chance  to  finde  them  upon  a  flake  of  ice  with  their  young 
ones,  shee  casteth  her  young  ones  before  her  into  the  water,  and  then 
takes  them  in  her  arms,  and  so  plunge th  up  and  down  with  them; 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  18S 

and  when  she  will  revenge  herself  upon  the  boates  or  make  resistance 
against  them,  then  she  casts  her  young  from  her  againe,  and  with 
all  her  force  goeth  toward  the  boate  (whereby  our  men  were  once  in 
no  small  danger,  for  that  the  sea-horse  had  almost  stricken  her 
teeth  into  the  steme  of  their  boate)  thinking  to  overthrow  it,  but  by 
means  of  the  great  cry  which  the  men  made,  she  was  afraide,  and 
swomme  away  againe  and  took  her  yoimg  ones  againe  in  her  arms. 
They  have  two  teeth  sticking  out  of  their  mouthes,  on  each  side  one, 
each  being  about  halfe  an  ell  long,  and  are  esteemed  to  be  as  good 
as  any  ivarie  or  elephant's  teeth. 


Their  belligerent  qualities,  as  here  described,  have  not 
deteriorated  through  the  centuries.  They  are,  as  I  have 
said,  pre-eminently  the  fighters  of  the  North.  No  white 
man,  however  strong,  should  intrust  himself  to  a  com- 
bat with  such  a  monster  in  a  twenty-inch  wide,  nine- 
inch  deep,  paper-thin  Eskimo  kayak;  but  man  in  this, 
as  in  other  things,  often  rashly  and  confidently  attempts 
the  seemingly  imp>ossible.  My  failure  on  two  former 
occasions  under  f>erfect  conditions  but  seemed  to  whet 
my  appetite  for  success.  In  front  of  our  tent  at  Sul- 
wuddy  a  large  herd  was  feeding,  rising  to  the  surface 
to  breathe  about  every  nine  minutes.  Hunt,  E-say-oo, 
and  myself,  all  in  kayaks  some  twenty  yards  away, 
watched  them  quietly,  studying  their  actions  and  noting 
the  comparative  number  of  bulls  and  cows.  Two  or 
three  big  black  heads  with  glistening  white  tusks  de- 
manded j>eremptorily  that  the  greatest  caution  should 
be  exercised  in  dealing  with  their  families. 

Noting  that  one  remained  about  ten  yards  apart 
and  frequently  returned  to  the  same  j)osition  to  breathe, 
I  placed  my  kayak  so  that  upon  coming  to  the  surface 
he  would  be  headed  away  from  me.  He  soon  arose, 
breathing  heavily,  and  in  a  perfect  position.  I  dug  the 
paddle  deep  into  the  water  and  jumped  the  kayak  ahead 


184      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

at  full  si>eed — ^so  rapidly,  in  fact,  that  I  overshot  my 
mark  and  found  myself  alongside  of  the  walrus  before 
I  could  properly  grasp  the  harp>oon.  So  near  was  the 
round,  dark-gray  body  that  I  could  place  my  hand 
upon  it.  At  the  moment  he  was  lying  in  the  water,  face 
down.  Immediate  decision  and  quick  action  were  abso- 
lutely necessary.  I  grabbed  the  harj>ooL^  and  jabbed  it 
deep  down  through  the  blubber  and  flesh,  into  the  chest 
walls.  His  whole  body  jumi>ed  convulsively.  With  an 
angry  roar  he  whipped  his  head  around  beneath  my  arm 
and  stood  upright  in  the  water,  glaring  me  in  the  face. 

For  an  instant  it  api>eared  that  that  thoroughly  in- 
furiated mass  was  going  to  act,  and  act  in  my  direction. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  I  lost  no  time  in  getting  away, 
feeling  every  second  that  I  might  get  a  jab  in  the  back. 
With  a  mighty  splash  he  disappeared,  followed  by  the 
rapid  uncoiling  of  the  rawhide  line  on  the  top  of  my  kayak 
and  the  splash  of  the  sealskin  float  as  it  struck  the 
water.  Hunt,  in  the  twelve-foot  flattie,  succeeded  in 
overtaking  the  float  and  in  fastening  it  to  the  bow  of 
his  boat,  and  then  began  blazing  away  with  a  Winchester 
.33  sj>ecial.  Ten  shots  in  all  were  expended,  plowing 
furrows  through  the  top  of  its  head  and  along  the  sides 
of  its  body,  but  leaving  the  walrus  very  much  alive. 
With  the  help  of  E-say-oo,  the  animal  was  finally  killed 
and  towed  to  the  beach,  to  be  cut  up  and  cached  be- 
neath the  rocks. 

I  learned  on  the  23d  that  Green  and  Allen  werfr  so 
anxious  to  reach  the  United  States  that  they  were  willing 
to  risk  a  trip  across  Melville  Bay  in  our  power-boat.  I 
immediately  volunteered  to  return  home,  launch  the 
boat,  and  go  with  them  as  far  as  Umanak,  where  Freu- 
chen's  launch  could  possibly  be  engaged  for  the  trip 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  185 

to  Upemavik.  After  considering  it  thoroughly  for  a  few 
hours,  they  gave  up  the  plan,  because  of  the  lateness  of 
the  season.  We  secured  two  or  three  tons  of  meat 
during  the  time  we  camped  here;  the  boys  working 
hard  in  cutting  up  the  walrus  and  in  placing  them  under 
the  rocks  for  our  use  the  following  winter. 

On  the  26th  Jot,  Ah-now-ka,  Ka-ko-tchee-a,  and  I 
moved  north  to  hunt  about  Retreat  Cove  and  Cape 
Alexander,  thinking  that  if  the  party  were  divided, 
twice  as  much  meat  could  be  secured.  A  few  days  later 
we  rashly  decided  to  pitch  our  tent  on  the  extreme  end 
of  Cape  Alexander,  one  of  the  pillars  of  Hercules  and 
the  Cape  Horn  of  the  North.  Standing  there  at  the  en- 
trance to  Smith  Sound,  beaten  upon  by  the  rushing  winds 
from  the  Greenland  ice-cap,  the  storms  from  the  south, 
and  the  violent  winds  from  the  north,  bridging  out  into 
ice-swirling,  ice-infested  waters,  it  seems  like  some  living 
monster,  striking  in  its  savage  personality.  My  wild 
wish  to  camp  upon  this  wildest-looking  cape  in  the 
North  was  at  last  gratified. 

The  location  of  our  tent  only  a  few  feet  above  the 
water's  edge  must  have  amused  and  tempted  the  evil 
spirits  of  that  section.  Water  running  through  the  tent 
drove  us  out  of  bed  the  first  night,  the  result  of  a  heavy 
sea  from  the  south'ard.  Pig-headed  and  obstinate,  I 
refused  to  move  our  camp  to  higher  ground.  The  next 
day  we  awoke  with  the  same  residt.  It  was  getting 
interesting. 

To  bed  we  went  the  third  night,  with  a  strong  breeze 
from  the  north,  with  heavy  sea.  At  one  o'clock  in  the 
morning  it  was  as  still  as  death.  Not  a  particle  of  wind, 
the  air  a  mass  of  big,  feathery  snowflakes,  portending 
what  we  mostly  and  justly  feared — a  storm  from  the 


186    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Sept. 

south.  It  was  no  longer  interesting;  it  was  serious. 
Jot  started  at  once  down  the  shore  to  pull  the  flattie 
to  safety  up  beyond  the  high-water  mark.  I  packed 
everything  in  the  tent,  in  anticipation  of  trouble,  and 
followed  Jot,  worrying  considerably  over  his  long  ab- 
sence. Upon  our  return,  as  we  stood  on  the  cliff  above 
and  obtained  a  first  sight  of  our  pitched  tent.  Jot 
yelled:  "My  God!  Look  at  that!  My  rifle  is  gone!" 
,A  succession  of  leaps  brought  us  to  the  flat,  sloping  shelf 
upon  which  our  tent  was  pitched,  now  nearly  buried 
be  every  sea. 

Our  equipment  was  too  valuable  to  be  lost.  Quick 
work  and  dangerous  work  inside  the  tent  surging  back 
and  forth  with  the  strength  of  the  waves  netted  every- 
thing, but  in  a  soaked  condition.  We  lost  only  a  tin 
frying-pan,  a  tin  cup,  and  a  spoon  which  we  could  see 
upon  the  bottom  in  about  ten  feet  of  water  when  the 
storm  cleared. 

Wiser  and  sadder  men  and  taking  no  more  chances, 
we  repitched  our  tent  well  up  among  the  rocks,  far  out 
of  reach  of  the  dangerous  waves.  Our  food  was  gone 
and  none  could  be  obtained  on  the  end  of  the  cai>e,  but 
if  the  storm  continued,  Etah  was  only  fifteen  miles  away 
over  the  glacier  and  this  we  could  walk,  reclaiming  our 
boats  on  a  later  date.  Clearing  weather  at  night  enabled 
us  to  pack  and  leave  what  Jot  had  called  rej)eatedly  a 
"hell  of  a  place  for  a  camp."  The  boys  at  Sulwuddy, 
taking  advantage  of  the  same  lull  in  the  storm,  followed 
us  home,  having  obtained  one  more  walrus  since  we 
left  them. 

It  was  now  September  1st  and  all  hoj>e  of  a  relief- 
ship  was  given  up  for  the  year.  Our  situation  was  freely 
discussed  and  plans  were  made  for  the  winter.     Now 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  187 

that  we  had  a  large  amount  of  meat  cached  under  the 
rocks,  fuel  was  our  next  consideration.  Our  little 
twelve-foot  punt  was  requisitioned  as  a  coal-carrier. 
Loaded  to  the  rail  on  each  trip,  she  brought  over  from 
Provision  Point  in  one  day  6,427  pounds.  The  next  day 
our  twenty-one-foot  sailing-dory  transported  a  total  of 
10,360  p>ounds.  With  our  1,260  pounds  already  on  the 
ground  in  bags,  this  gave  us  a  grand  total  of  more  than 
18,000  ix)unds.  At  sixty-five  pounds  a  day,  which  we 
were  using,  this  should  last  until  May  1st  of  the  following 
year. 

By  force  of  habit  we  still  kept  our  eyes  on  the  southern 
horizon  over  which  ships  of  all  shap)es  and  sizes  were 
continually  coming  and  constantly  reported.  It  is 
strange  how  a  man  sees  what  he  wants  to  see.  Jot  and 
I  were  rounding  Cap)e  Alexander  two  weeks  previous, 
and  the  boys  declared  our  twenty-one-foot  sail-boat  to 
be  the  500-ton  steamship  Erik  from  St.  John's,  an  illusion 
which  j>ersisted  for  some  minutes  and  was  only  reluc- 
tantly dispelled  ujwn  our  reapj)earance  some  five  miles 
from  the  house.  Tanquary,  hoping  against  hope,  de- 
ferred further  amputation  of  his  two  toes  from  day  to 
day,  preferring  to  have  it  done  at  home.  He  now  con- 
sented to  the  removal  of  his  two  toes  at  the  first  joint 
by  Doctor  Hunt.  He  had  suffered  for  six  months,  but 
had  shown  clear  grit  all  the  way  through. 

A  sub-hunting  station  was  planned  for  Nerky,  forty- 
five  miles  below  Etah.  Here  a  good  Eskimo  igloo  could 
be  built  and  the  meat  secured  during  the  fall  cached 
for  our  use  in  sledging  south  during  the  winter  months, 
thus  obviating  the  rather  difllcult  route  with  loaded 
sledges  over  the  Crystal  Palace  Glacier  inside  Cape 

Alexander.     As  a  preliminary  step  toward  the  estab- 
13 


188    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

lishment  of  this  station,  Green,  with  three  Eskimos, 
left  for  the  south  on  the  6th  in  our  dory,  loaded  with  oil 
and  biscuit.  He  returned  on  the  8th  after  landing  every- 
thing at  Sulwuddy,  where  it  could  be  easily  reached 
with  dog-teams  from  Nerky.  He  also  brought  us  the 
good  news  of  three  more  walrus  killed  near  Retreat 
Cove. 

Our  Eskimos  were  now  preparing  for  their  annual 
caribou-hunt  some  forty  miles  north  of  Etah,  in  the 
roUing  hills  between  the  shore  and  the  front  of  the 
Greenland  ice-cap.  The  coast,  bare  of  snow  at  this  time 
of  year,  precluded  all  thoughts  of  a  route  in  that  direc- 
tion. Consequently  sledges  and  dogs  are  always  trans- 
jwrted  to  the  head  of  Foulke  Fiord  and  thence  to  the 
back  of  Brother  John's  Glacier,  the  beginning  of  the 
great  white  highway  leading  to  the  north  and  south 
and  into  the  interior  of  Greenland.  Hunt,  one  of  our 
most  enthusiastic  hunters,  early  signified  his  wish  to 
accompany  the  Eskimos  on  this  interesting  trip.  He 
was  now  busy  preparing  and  transporting  his  equij)- 
ment  by  boat  and  land  to  the  face  of  the  glacier  in 
Alida  Lake. 

On  the  9th  Jot  and  I  were  away  for  Nerky  with  our 
boat  looking  like  a  gipsy  wagon,  piled  high  with  lum- 
ber for  the  roof  of  our  sub-station,  oil,  and  dog-biscuit, 
together  with  a  heterogeneous  mass  consisting  of  two 
women,  three  children,  two  pups,  skins,  clothing,  books, 
hunting  equipment,  stoves,  drinking-water,  and  tj^o 
dead  gulls.  Strung  out  behind  us  were  three  kayaks  in 
tow,  two  the  property  of  the  husbands  of  the  women 
who  were  to  proceed  with  their  dog-teams  over  the 
Greenland  ice-cap,  rejoining  us  at  Nerky.  Loaded  as 
we  were,  there  was  not  a  little  apprehension  as  to  our 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE   SHIP  189 

safe  rounding  of  Cai>e  Alexander  with  old  Torngak  watch- 
ing every  move  from  north  or  south. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  very  devil  himself  lives  at 
that  place  and  never  sleeps.  Winter  and  summer  it  is 
the  same.  Very  few  Eskimos  dare  to  go  around  in 
their  kayaks  even  in  moderate  weather.  Within  a  very 
few  minutes  a  placid,  innocent  stretch  of  water  is  con- 
verted into  a  heaving,  tumbling,  dangerous  sea.  In 
addition  to  this  menace,  there  are  great  herds  of  walrus 
always  feeding  there  which  are  inclined  to  follow  a 
boat,  attracted,  I  think,  by  curiosity.  Some  weeks 
previous,  when  passing  that  i>oint,  an  Eskimo  following 
us  in  his  kayak  uttered  a  terrified  yell.  We  turned 
quickly  and  rowed  back  as  a  herd  of  walrus  could  be 
seen  gaining  rapidly  on  him.  Our  sj)eedy  arrival 
turned  the  herd  to  one  side,  much  to  the  Eskimo's 
peace  of  mind. 

The  devil,  upon  this  occasion,  doubtless  out  of  resi>ect 
for  the  ladies,  kept  quiet  and  p>ermitted  us  to  round  in 
safety  and  proceed  to  Retreat  Cove,  where  we  made  our 
first  camp  just  after  dark.  Learning  from  Jot  that  a 
young  walrus  was  here  in  cache,  we  soon  had  a  portion 
of  him  out,  cut  up,  and  in  the  cooking-pot.  "My! 
Isn't  it  good!"  we  exclaimed  to  one  another  as  we  sat 
in  the  darkness  of  the  tent,  chewing  that  delicious  meat. 
To  our  surprise,  upon  awaking  in  the  morning  we 
found  our  hands  and  wrists  literally  red  with  blood. 
In  the  hasty  preparations  of  the  preceding  evening,  in 
our  impatience,  we  had  not  even  waited  for  the  meat 
to  warm  through. 

When  passing  Sulwuddy  on  our  second  day's  trip,  we 
saw  a  walrus  standing  up  in  the  water  with  head  thrown 
back,  fast  asleep.     With  tent  pole  poised  and  ready  as 


190    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Sept. 

a  harpoon,  and  that  wide-op>en  mouth  as  its  objective, 
noiselessly  we  crept  toward  our  quarry,  the  children 
whinii)ering  with  fright,  and  the  women  giggling  hys- 
terically. A  clean  miss!  The  look  on  the  face  of  the 
astonished  animal  as  he  opened  his  eyes  almost  into  ours 
was  truly  comical.  He  tore  an  immense  hole  in  the 
water  trying  to  get  under  it. 

Herds  of  white  whale  with  their  dark-gray  young 
passed  and  repassed  our  boat  throughout  the  trip.  It 
was  interesting  that  they  had  not  disappeared  at  this 
time  of  the  year  immediately  after  the  departure  of 
the  little  auks,  as  they  are  said  to  do  by  the  Smith 
Sound  Eskimos.  It  is  the  firm  belief  among  these  peo- 
ple that  the  white  whales  feed  upon  these  Httle  auks 
which  they  follow  south  in  the  fall.  They  are  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  feet  long  and  of  a  creamy,  yellowish 
white  in  color,  and  furnish  about  9,400  pounds  of  blub- 
ber. "Singing  canaries"  they  are  called  by  the  sailor 
of  the  North,  because  of  a  p>eculiar  whistling  note  some- 
times compared  to  the  Tyrolian  yodel,  sometimes  to  a 
jew's-harp,  and  the  music  is  often  heard  even  in  the 
cabin  of  a  ship.  The  Smith  Sound  Eskimo  can  easily 
detect  the  difference  between  the  whistle  of  the  white 
whale  and  the  whistle  of  the  narwhal,  which  is  a  much 
lower  tone.  The  white  whales  are  extremely  acute  in 
hearing  and  can  only  be  approached  with  the  utmost 
caution. 

TVJien  we  saw  a  herd  approaching  directly  in  otlr 
path,  we  l-ested  on  the  oars  and  remained  perfectly 
motionless  and  noiseless.  In  spite  of  this  precaution, 
they  disappeared  fifty  yards  in  advance  of  our  boat  and 
reappeared  a  hundred  yards  in  the  rear.  The  raw  skin 
of  the  white  whale  is  considered  a  great  delicacy  in  the 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  \dl 

Smith  Sound  tribe,  and  the  oil,  equally  with  that  of  the 
narwhal,  is  the  very  purest  and  best  for  heating  and 
lighting  purposes. 

A  third  day  at  the  oars  of  the  heavily  loaded  boat  saw 
the  finish  of  our  forty-mile  row.  The  green  grass  at 
Nerky  was  fairly  dotted  with  the  white  bodies  of  twenty 
Arctic  hare.  Jot  squatted  on  the  shore  and,  resting 
his  elbows  on  his  knees,  killed  five  before  they  decided 
that  he  was  dangerous.  The  Eskimo  girls  looked  over 
the  old  stone  houses  and  generously  offered  us  the 
largest  and  by  far  the  best,  standing  well  back  from  the 
shore.  For  days  we  threw  out  bones,  decayed  meat, 
old  skins,  and  wet  grass.  Finally,  despairing  of  ever 
digging  down  to  something  really  clean,  we  decided 
to  cover  everything  with  white  sand  from  the  beach. 

In  the  mean  time,  Al-ning-wa  and  Ah-ka-ting-wa  had 
been  digging  and  scraping  in  their  respective  and  pro- 
spective homes.  This  house-cleaning  in  the  North  with 
a  pointed  stick  would  certainly  interest  our  matrons 
here  at  home.  Chloride  of  lime  would  help  some,  but 
a  good  strong  smell  scares  away  the  devils,  so  the  Eskimos 
say.  I  do  not  doubt  it  for  an  instant.  It  is  fortunate 
that  such  an  effective  weapon  is  such  a  common  pos- 
session. 

Arklio  and  Oo-bloo-ya,  the  looked-for  husbands,  ar- 
rived with  their  dogs  and  sledges  via  the  Greenland  ice- 
cap on  September  13th.  We  immediately  made  prepara- 
tions for  an  expedition  to  the  head  of  the  bay  after 
a  boat-load  of  grass  which  should  serve  as  a  covering 
for  our  winter  homes  against  the  bitter  temperatures 
which  were  sure  to  come  within  a  few  months.  The 
Eskimo  igloo,  covered  with  sod,  then  with  dry  grass, 
skins,  and,  lastly,  with  that  almost  perfect  insulator. 


192    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Sept. 

snow,  can  be  made  surprisingly  comfortable  and  warm. 
The  mast,  boom,  and  sails  of  our  boat  were  applied  to 
the  roof  of  our  house  with  excellent  results,  giving  us  a 
tight  roof  and  one  which  retained  all  the  heat  generated 
within. 

The  14th  was  a  beautiful  day.  The  bay  was  fairly 
alive  with  the  heads  of  seals.  Unfortunately,  a  slight 
swell  rendered  accurate  shooting  from  a  kayak  impos- 
sible. That  six  were  secured  under  such  conditions  was 
the  cause  of  congratulations.  Shots  were  heard  from 
across  the  bay  in  the  evening,  indicating  the  nearness 
of  our  hunting-ground  to  that  of  the  Eskimos  of  Ig-loo- 
de-houny,  some  twelve  miles  to  the  northeast. 

A  tremendous  surprise  awaited  us  on  the  early  morn- 
ing of  the  15th.  The  cry  of  "Fire!"  or  even  of  "Mur- 
der!" could  never  have  startled  us  more  than  the  awful 
yelling  which  issued  from  Arklio's  tent.  A  few  seconds 
convinced  us  that  something  was  coming.  "Putter  .  .  . 
putter  . . .  putter,"  could  then  be  faintly  heard — a  motor- 
boat!  I  could  hardly  believe  my  blinking  eyes  until 
the  glad  cry  came  from  Jerome:  "Doctor  Hovey  is 
here!     The  ship  is  at  Umanak!" 

The  long-looked-for  relief  had  come.  My  heart  went 
into  my  boots;  although  I  was  barefooted  at  the  time. 
Within  a  few  minutes  Doctor  Hovey  shouted:  "How  is 
it  for  going  home?"  This  was  my  last  wish.  No,  I 
couldn't  and  wouldn't  go  home,  with  so  many  plans 
for  another  year.  But  how  happy  I  was  for  the  men, 
many  of  whom  had  no  real  reasons  for  remaining! 
Ekblaw,  Tanquary,  Green,  and  Allen  were  already  on 
board  and  ready  for  the  start;  Hunt,  the  day  previous 
to  Hovey's  arrival,  had  departed  with  the  Eskimos  for 
the  northern  hunting-grounds. 


1915]  WAITING  FOR  THE  SHIP  19S 

The  story  was  told  in  a  few  minutes.  The  three- 
masted  auxiliary  schooner,  George  B.  Cluett,  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Pickles,  had  been  chartered  by 
the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  to  proceed  to 
Etah  for  our  relief.  Dr.  E.  O.  Hovey  was  the  official 
representative  of  the  Museum.  Absolutely  unfitted  for 
Arctic  work,  handicapj>ed  by  a  late  start  and  several 
delays  along  the  Greenland  coast,  the  ship  had  essayed 
the  crossing  of  ice-choked  Melville  Bay  with  a  disabled 
engine  and  with  not  a  single  man  aboard  who  had  a 
knowledge  of  that  uncertain  stretch  of  water  or  that 
inhospitable  northern  coast. 

Reaching  Umanak  (North  Star  Bay)  after  a  long, 
tedious,  and  somewhat  dangerous  voyage.  Doctor 
Hovey  and  Captain  Comer,  the  ice  pilot,  decided  that 
the  ship  should  remain  in  that  ix>rt  while  Doctor  Hovey 
should  proceed  on  to  Etah,  100  miles  to  the  north,  in  a 
large,  stanch  p>ower-boat,  the  property  of  the  Danish 
trading-station  at  Umanak.  This  was  done  with  the 
help  of  Freuchen,  in  charge  of  the  station,  and  his  men. 
The  party  was  now  on  its  return  to  the  Cluett  with  the 
intention  of  proceeding  home  at  once. 

In  consideration  of  the  fact  that  Doctor  Hunt  was 
still  in  the  North  and  that  all  of  our  equipment  and 
collections  were  at  Etah,  my  desire  to  remain  for  an- 
other year  was  strengthened.  Jot  immediately  sig- 
nified his  desire  to  remain  with  me.  Within  a  few 
minutes  good-bys  were  said  and  the  boat  sailed  away 
to  the  south,  leaving  us  with  our  letters  from  home 
and  the  latest  news  of  the  great  world  war  which  seemed 
so  remote  and  unrelated  to  our  primitive  life  here — 
existence  in  a  canvas  tent  upn^n  the  shores  of  a  Green- 
land fiord.    We  can  never  forget  the  oranges  brought 


194     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

to  us  by  Doctor  Hovey.  We  rolled  them  in  our  hands, 
smelled  of  them  repeatedly,  tossed  them  into  the  air, 
and  then — ^gave  most  of  them  to  the  Eskimos.  What  a 
curiosity  they  were  and  how  much  they  were  enjoyed! 
What  exclamations  of  surprise  upon  hearing  that  these 
yellow  balls  were  picked  from  trees!  Trees  high  above 
their  heads!  The  creeping  willow  vine,  possibly  at- 
taining the  size  of  one-half  inch  in  diameter,  is  the 
largest  "tree"  among  these  i>eople. 

It  seemed  strangely  quiet  after  this  slight  touch  with 
the  homeland.  The  curtain  had  lifted  but  for  a  mo- 
ment; but  in  that  moment  we  had  seen  much — ^green 
fields  and  extensive  forests,  the  horizon  of  a  blue  sea 
dotted  not  with  icebergs,  but  with  the  sails  of  passing 
ships,  great  cities  teeming  with  life,  the  familiar  rooms 
and  faces  of  our  homes,  loved  ones  who  were  anxiously 
awaiting  our  return.  We  folded  up  the  letters  and 
planned  for  the  day's  work. 


V, 


X 

THE  WINTER   OF   1915-16 

WE  were  now  in  for  at  least  another  year  in  the 
Arctic,  and  our  first  task  centered  about  supplies 
for  the  coming  winter.  And,  strange  as  it  may  seem, 
otu:  immediate  work  was  gathering  grass.  Although  it 
is  not  generally  associated  with  the  Arctic  regions, 
grass  is  one  of  the  most  valuable  products  of  the  North- 
land, and,  fortunately,  for  the  comforts  of  the  Eskimos, 
there  is  an  abundance  in  the  vicinity  of  every  village. 
An  excellent  insulator  against  cold,  it  is  highly  prized 
for  padding  in  the  sealskin  boot,  for  the  large  comfort- 
able beds,  and  for  the  roofing  of  the  winter  rock  houses. 
Unlike  his  brother  in  North  America,  the  Smith  Sound 
native  lives  for  nine  months  in  the  year  in  an  excavated 
clover-leaf -shaped  room;  the  walls,  floor,  and  ten-foot 
entrance  are  of  stone.  Formerly  the  roof,  supported 
by  the  cantilever  principle,  was  of  slate  rock.  To-day 
we  find  it  consisting  generally  of  wood  and  skins;  the 
former  obtained  from  the  white  man  in  trade  for  skins 
and  ivory. 

Although  the  temperature  upon  the  floor  of  such  a 
house,  due  to  the  open,  semicircular  entrance  from  the 
rock-walled  passage  to  the  open  air,  may  be,  and  often 
is,  at  zero,  that  upon  the  bed  platform,  eighteen  to 


196    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

twenty  inches  in  height,  is  from  60°  to  80°  Fahrenheit. 
Naturally  when  the  house  is  crowded  much  of  the 
warmth  is  radiated  heat  from  the  bodies  of  the  people.  If 
you  want  it  any  warmer,  bring  in  another  Eskimo! 
Here  the  little  children  tumble  and  roll  and  laugh  in 
the  warm  skins,  unencumbered  with  any  clothes  what- 
ever. The  unembarrassed  lady  of  the  house  herself  sits 
sewing  or  chewing  the  sole  of  a  boot,  cross-legged,  be- 
side her  soapstone  lamp,  clad  only  in  a  much-abbreviated 
pair  of  foxskin  trousers;  her  body  surprisingly  white 
in  spite  of  the  fact  that  she  has  not  washed  it  for  the 
last  forty  years!  Faces  and  hands,  however,  are  regu- 
larly wiped  with  the  fat-absorbing  birdskins. 

When  I  left  North  Greenland  in  1909,  I  presented  to 
In-ah-loo,  a  fat,  good-natured  dame,  one  inch  of  a 
Williams  shaving-soap  stick.  Upon  my  return,  four 
years  later,  with  marked  pride  she  dug  from  the  bot- 
tom of  a  sealskin  bag  the  same  inch!  She  liked  to 
smell  of  it! 

To  a  white  man  the  odor  of  an  unwashed  Eskimo  is 
unmistakable  and  well  pronounced.  To  an  Eskimo  the 
smell  of  a  washed  white  man  is  just  as  pronounced, 
and  probably  just  as  disagreeable.  It  is  simply  the 
question  of  a  choice  of  perfumes.  Strange  to  say,  after 
a  few  weeks'  contact  with  these  primitive  children  of  the 
far  North,  that  all-pervading  and  once  offensive  odor  is 
indistinguishable;  it  has  become  commonplace,  and 
ceases  to  notice.  Or  has  the  olfactory  nerve,  discouraged 
by  such  a  constant  load,  given  up  in  despair  .f* 

On  the  16th  Jot  and  the  Eskimos,  in  our  sailing-dory, 
rowed  to  the  head  of  the  fiord  for  a  load  of  grass.  This 
is  never  cut,  but  is  pulled  and  broken  close  to  the  ground. 
Megishoo,  oldest  daughter  of  Oo-bloo-ya,  stood  on  the 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  197 

slope  of  a  hill,  grabbing  out  with  both  hands  and  pulling 
as  if  her  life  depended  on  it.  She  missed  her  hold,  fell 
over  backward,  and,  rolling  the  whole  length  of  the 
slope,  landed  abruptly  in  a  seated  jMDsition  on  the  sand 
beach,  with  bewilderment  predominant  in  every  feature 
of  her  young  face. 

During  the  next  week  we  were  busy  hunting  walrus 
and  seal  up  and  down  the  coast  from  Nerky  to  Sul- 
wuddy,  caching  our  meat  under  the  rocks  for  use  during 
the  dark  j)eriod.  But  I  worried  considerably  over  the 
fact  that  our  house  and  all  of  our  equipment  and  col- 
lections were  left  unprotected  by  the  departure  of  the 
men.  If  any  one  quality  can  be  attributed  to  an  Es- 
kimo, it  is  that  of  carelessness.  Doctor  Kane's  Advance 
and  Peary's  Anniversary  Lodge  were  both  burned  short- 
ly after  the  departure  of  the  men  southward.  If  our 
house  should  burn,  what  then.'*  An  irreparable  loss, 
and  a  death-blow  to  all  future  work! 

Every  day  but  accentuated  my  fears.  The  summer 
season  had  closed.  The  nights  were  dark.  Fields  of 
ice,  lately  broken  from  the  inner  bays  in  the  far  North, 
were  strewn  the  length  of  the  coast.  New  ice  was 
forming.  I  looked  at  our  somewhat  battered  twelve- 
foot,  flat-bottomed  punt,  the  pride  of  our  fleet,  and 
wondered  if  she  could  do  the  forty-eight  miles.  When- 
ever I  thought  of  our  house  and  food  and  clothing,  I 
would  walk  to  the  beach  and  examine  the  punt;  then 
some  new  phase  of  the  daily  work  would  divert  my  at- 
tention and  the  house  and  equipment  would  be  for- 
gotten; but  not  for  long. 

On  the  23d  (September)  a  drizzling  rain  fell  all  day. 
There  was  not  a  breath  of  wind;  the  dark,  lead-colored 
sea  was  as  smooth  as  a  pond.     Here  was  my  oppor- 


198    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

tunity.  At  four  in  the  afternoon  of  the  24th  the  rain 
ceased  and  the  clouds  rolled  away,  revealing  blue 
patches  of  sky — every  promise  of  a  good,  starlit  night. 
With  a  good-by  to  Jot  and  the  Eskimos,  who  looked  a 
bit  astonished,  I  was  oflF  with  only  my  sleeping-bag  and 
a  half-dozen  crackers. 

For  rowing  in  the  Arctic  one  should  have  bow-facing 
oars  or  an  eye  in  the  back  of  his  head.  Two  collisions 
with  bergs  during  the  night,  ending  with  head  in  the 
bottom  of  the  boat  and  feet  sticking  up,  were  sound 
and  convincing  arguments  that  the  structure  of  the 
human  body  might  be  improved  upon. 

At  Peteravik  a  herd  of  walrus  arose  to  the  surface  as 
the  dark  form  of  the  boat  passed  over  their  supper- 
table.  Not  quite  understanding  the  nature  of  the 
stranger,  they  followed  slowly  and  critically  for  some 
distance. 

Before  I  reached  Sulwuddy  it  was  dark.  A  few  miles 
beyond  I  was  startled  by  a  tremendous  beating  of  the 
water  right  under  the  bows  of  my  boat.  "Walrus! 
fish!  whale!  what  in  the  world!"  I  exclaimed  in  suc- 
cession. And  then  I  could  discern  in  the  semi-darkness 
through  the  flying  spray  the  hurrying,  scurrying  black 
forms  of  young  eider  ducks!  They  were  not  yet  able 
to  fly,  but  with  the  rapid  beat  of  their  strengthening 
wings  they  could  skim  the  surface  surprisingly  well. 
Within  a  few  weeks  they  would  be  off  on  their  2,000- 
mile  journey  to  their  winter  home  off  the  coasts  of 
Maine  and  Massachusetts. 

When  nests  are  robbed  rep>eatedly  and  the  young  are 
hatched  in  consequence  late  in  August,  the  mothers 
often  fly  off  to  the  south,  leaving  their  young  to  struggle 
for  an  existence  against  cold  and  wind  and  ice.     The 


HEAD    OF    TWO-THOUSAND-POUND    WALRUS 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF    1915-16  199 

abandoned  fledglings  undoubtedly  p)erish  and  are  often 
found  dead  along  the  ice-foot  and  in  the  fresh-water 
ponds. 

Cape  Alexander,  just  half-way  between  the  Arctic 
Circle  and  the  Pole,  was  before  me.  It  was  never  ap- 
proached in  a  small  boat  without  a  certain  apprehension, 
because  of  the  extreme  uncertainty  of  the  weather  con- 
ditions. Skies  may  be  blue  and  waters  on  either  side  of 
the  cape  like  a  mirror,  but  at  the  end  there  is  generally 
a  devil's  dance!  Eskimos  in  view  of  the  cape  daily 
look  to  it  for  a  prophecy  of  the  day.  Seated  in  a  little 
skin  boat,  twenty  inches  wide  and  nine  inches  deep, 
wind  is  what  the  native  fears;  and  this  is  foretold  by 
a  white  cloud  hanging  low  upon  the  summit — an  unfail- 
ing sign.  This  cloud  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  sudden 
condensation  of  the  comparatively  warm,  moisture- 
laden  air  of  this  vicinity  (the  stretch  of  open  water  has 
a  temperature  of  29.2°  F.  above,  both  winter  and  sum- 
mer) brought  about  by  the  downward  rush  of  cold  air 
from  the  Greenland  ice-cap.  "The  cape  has  her  white 
cap  on  to-day,"  was  always  an  excellent  reason  for 
hugging  the  shore  in  the  day's  hunting. 

In  the  dark  no  cap  was  visible.  A  slight  chop  at  the 
very  tip  of  the  cape  gave  evidence  that  all  was  not  well 
to  the  north.  A  few  heavy  squalls  as  I  rounded  cau- 
tioned me  to  follow  the  shore  and  not  strike  across  for 
the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs,  four  miles  away.  Swiftly  the 
little  punt  raced  on  into  a  dense  fog  with  a  rapidly  in- 
creasing and  following  wind  and  sea.  The  faint  dawn 
now  disclosed  a  dark  mass  in  the  mist,  which,  to  my  dis- 
gust, proved  to  be  the  wave- washed  face  of  the  Crystal 
Palace  Glacier,  informing  me  that  I  was  well  off  my 
course.    Past    experience,    when    sledging,    with    ever 


200     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

changing  and  revolving  winds  in  this  bay,  should  have 
proven  more  profitable.  A  change  of  direction  and  an 
hour's  hard  pulling  against  the  sea  brought  to  view  the 
rocks  of  the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs  whitened  with  the 
surf.  Beyond  this  point  there  was  scarcely  a  breath 
of  wind. 

Foulke  Fiord  was  frozen  over  and  the  land  was  white 
with  new  snow.  With  the  flood  tide  the  ice  had  risen, 
leaving  a  lane  of  water  along  the  shore  leading  to  the 
house,  which  I  reached  at  a  quarter  to  ten.  To  my  sur- 
prise, upon  stepping  from  the  punt  at  the  finish  of  this 
nearly  eighteen-hour  row,  I  was  a  bit  unsteady  on  my  legs, 
due  perhaps  to  the  fact  that  I  had  had  no  nourishment 
since  leaving  Nerky  at  four  on  the  previous  afternoon, 
except  two  ounces  of  crackers. 

The  house  was  safe,  but  how  strangely  quiet!  And 
how  cold  and  cheerless!  There  was  a  deathlike  stillness 
in  the  rooms  now  vacated  by  the  men,  and  evidence 
everywhere  of  their  hurried  departure.  A  crackling  wood 
fire  in  our  big  Crawford  cooking-stove  removed  the  chill 
and  the  dampness;  a  few  minutes  with  broom  and  hands 
removed  all  traces  of  disorder  and  untidiness.  Borup 
Lodge  was  a  home  again,  and  would  be  for  two  years 
more. 

Two  days  later  I  saw  Hunt  approaching  the  home  on 
his  return  from  the  annual  caribou-hunt.  How  I  pitied 
him!  He  had  left  a  charming  wife  and  a  beautiful  little 
six-year-old  daughter  in  the  homeland;  and  Northern 
work  had  not  been  so  attractive  as  he  had  hoj>ed.  I 
walked  out  to  greet  him  and  to  learn  of  his  success. 
E-took-a-shoo  had  killed  twelve  caribou,  Ak-pood-a- 
shah-o  two.  The  other  men  had  gone  on  toward  north- 
ern hunting-grounds.    Just  before  we  reached  the  door 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  201 

I  said,  "Well,  Hunt,  the  boys  have  gone."  And,  noting 
his  bewildered  look,  I  went  on  to  explain:  "Doctor 
Hovey  has  been  here  in  a  jX)wer-boat.  The  ship  reached 
North  Star  Bay."  No  one  could  have  taken  this  crush- 
ing blow  more  bravely  than  he  did,  a  blow  which  cut 
him  oflF  from  home  and  friends  for  one  more  year  at 
least.  Plans  and  promises  to  have  him  sledged  by  the 
December  moon  to  South  Greenland,  where  he  could 
reach  the  United  States  by  steamship  via  Copenhagen, 
were  all  speedily  refused;  he  would  stick  it  out  to  the 
end. 

We  now  made  preparations  for  the  winter.  A  new 
heavy  iron  stovepij>e  replaced  the  old;  holes  were 
patched  in  our  shed;  double  windows  were  put  on;  coal 
was  weighed  daily.  Meteorological  observations  were 
taken  as  usual,  with  daily  sea  temp)eratures. 

On  October  5th  the  newly  formed  harbor  ice  was  all 
blown  out  to  sea  by  constant  winds.  But  by  the  15th 
it  was  again  forming,  and  two  days  later  it  was  strong 
enough  to  bear  our  weight.  During  the  next  ten  days 
Hunt,  at  my  request,  secured  a  valuable  set  of  soundings 
of  Foulke  Fiord  (so  far  as  I  can  learn,  the  only  set), 
showing  the  depth  to  which  the  glacier  of  centuries  ago 
chiseled  and  carved  its  bed  out  of  solid  rock  as  it  flowed 
on  majestically  from  the  ice-cap  to  the  sea,  between 
what  are  now  1,000-foot  cliffs  rising  abruptly  from  the 
water's  edge. 

Day  by  day  the  Eskimos  were  returning  from  the 
northern  hunting-grounds  with  sledges  loaded  heavily 
with  skins.  They  reported  that  the  party  which  had 
settled  in  the  spring  at  the  head  of  Dallas  Bay  had  but 
little  meat,  and  would  probably  soon  return.  Jot  ar- 
rived from  Nerky  on  the  28th  by  way  of  the  ice-cap. 


802    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH      [Oct. 

accompanied  by  Arklio  and  Oo-bloo-ya,  as  I  had  in- 
structed. 

On  the  31st  I  was  off  for  a  120-mile  run  to  North 
Star  Bay  in  search  of  food  which  Doctor  Hovey  prom- 
ised to  land  in  that  vicinity.  A  merry  party  we  were, 
consisting  of  eleven  sledges  and  100  dogs.  Open  water 
at  Cape  Kendrick  compelled  us  to  go  south  by  the  ice- 
cap route;  and  to  gain  it  we  descended  the  valley  south 
of  Port  Foulke,  marked  by  the  striking-looking  butte 
memorialized  by  Doctor  Hayes  as  the  "Sonntag  Monu- 
ment." Our  camp  on  the  summit  that  night  was  very 
picturesque — not  a  breath  of  air,  a  clear,  star-studded 
sky,  two  illuminated  tents,  two  blazing  open  fires,  ten 
dog-teams  sleeping  at  the  edge  of  the  dimly  lighted  circle; 
and,  throwing  out  long  shadows  into  the  darkness  as 
they  tumbled  and  fell  amid  shrieks  of  laughter,  the 
Eskimos  old  and  young  playing  "blind  man's  buff." 
This  was  followed  by  cross  tag,  and  then  we  retired  to  our 
bags  for  a  hard  day  on  the  morrow. 

A  snowstorm  confronted  us  the  next  day.  How  could 
we  find  our  way  with  nothing  to  guide  us?  Imp>ossible! 
Within  an  hour  we  were  lost  and  almost  doubling  on 
our  back  trail,  as  was  plainly  evident  from  the  wind, 
which  at  the  start  was  well  to  the  right  and  now  was 
blowing  behind  us  from  the  left.  At  length  an  old 
sledge  track,  cutting  our  course  at  a  sharp  angle,  was 
discovered,  and  followed  to  rocky  headlands  projecting 
from  the  ice-cap  and  leading  to  the  Clements  Markham 
Glacier  south  of  Cape  Chalon  (Peteravik).  Now  began 
a  wild  race  down  the  back  of  the  glacier  to  the  sea.  The 
whips  snapping,  the  men  yelling,  the  women  calling  to 
one  another,  the  children  crying,  the  sledges  jumping, 
diving,  and  slewing — a  veritable  pandemonium! 


19151  THE  WINTER  OF  1915-16  20S 

Fearing  lest  my  sledge  should  capsize,  I  was  strug- 
gling with  the  upstanders  to  direct  it,  when  a  wild  yell 
from  E-took-a-shoo  close  behind  us  warned  me  of  ap- 
proaching danger.  His  sledge  crashed  into  mine,  and, 
both  stopping  suddenly,  his  dogs  snapped  the  hitching- 
strap  and  tore  off  down  the  slope.  Immediately  came 
another  warning  cry  as  E-say-oo's  blacks  shot  between 
us;  and  his  sledge,  on  which  were  piled  all  of  his  worldly 
goods,  was  added  to  the  wreck.  Ah-nah-we,  his  wife, 
and  ten-year-old  Nup-sa,  who  were  perched  on  top  of 
the  load,  did  not  stop  with  their  conveyance,  but  invol- 
untarily continued  on  their  way,  the  former  landing 
upon  her  stomach  among  the  dogs,  and  the  latter  upon 
his  nose  against  E-took-a-shoo's  load.  The  stream  of 
blood  and  the  yells  which  followed  were  both  checked 
with  considerable  difficulty.  At  length  the  runaway 
dogs  were  whipped  back  up  the  hill,  the  sledges  and 
harness  were  disentangled,  and  laughter  replaced  groans. 

We  spent  two  nights  at  Nerky  to  feed  and  strengthen 
our  dogs  with  seal  meat  which  we  had  cached  there  in 
the  fall.  Our  next  camp  was  made  at  Ig-loo-nark-suah, 
rather  than  attempt  to  crowd  into  the  already  well-filled 
igloos  at  Ig-loo-de-houny.  Here,  to  my  surprise,  I  heard 
one  of  the  Eskimo  boys  humming  the  air  of  "Auld  Lang 
Syne."    He  had  learned  it  from  our  victrola! 

On  the  morning  of  November  4th  we  deemed  it  im- 
prudent to  attempt  the  route  to  Kah-na  over  new  ice 
now  doubly  treacherous  because  of  a  thin  covering  of 
recently  fallen  snow.  The  color  of  ice  is  constantly 
noted  to  determine  its  thickness.  But  at  noon  three 
more  sledges  arrived  with  the  same  destination  in  view. 
Encouraged  by  nimibers,  we  now  went  on  together, 
somewhat  gingerly,  across  McCormick  Bay  to  Cape 

14 


204      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Nov. 

Cleveland  over  ice  so  thin  that,  ujwn  passing,  our  sledge 
tracks  were  seen  to  soak  water. 

On  the  shore  at  our  left  Peary  was  landed  twenty- 
four  years  before  with  a  broken  leg.  He  would  not  go 
home.  He  would  do  what  he  came  to  do.  There  he 
built  his  little  hpme  called  Red  Cliff  House.  He  was 
the  first  to  put  absolute  faith  in  these  Northern  natives, 
hitherto  considered  untrustworthy.  He  was  the  first 
to  win  their  confidence.  From  this  jx)int  he  began  that 
long  march  over  the  icy  dome  of  Greenland  to  Inde- 
pendence Bay,  a  bold  reconnaissance  for  his  magnificent 
work  of  later  years. 

Little  did  I  dream  of  the  surprise  awaiting  me  among 
the  fights  of  the  village  of  Kah-na,  now  just  showing 
far  down  the  shore.  Oo-tah,  of  North  Pole  fame,  came 
running  out  to  meet  me  as  I  drove  in.  Bit  by  bit  I 
gleaned  the  latest  news.  First,  that  all  my  supplies 
were  at  Ip-swee-shoo,  which  surprised  and  disappointed 
me,  since  Doctor  Hovey  had  promised  to  land  them  at 
Umanak  (North  Star  Bay).  I  reasoned  that  the  ship 
had  been  driven  out  of  North  Star  Bay  by  the  ice,  and 
had  landed  the  provisions  at  Parker  Snow  Bay  as  she 
passed  south.  He  next  informed  me  that  Green  was  at 
Kangerd-look-suah  and  was  on  his  way  back  to  Etah. 
He  must  have  thought  my  hearing  was  entirely  gone 
when  I  requested  him  to  repeat  this  very  slowly  and  dis- 
tinctly three  times.  And  then  I  was  by  no  means  con- 
vinced. I  had  imagined  Green  by  this  time  at*-the 
Army  and  Navy  Club  in  New  York  safely  eating  j>each 
ice-cream  and  chocolate  frosted  cake,  delicacies  which 
he  had  talked  about  so  many  times  on  our  first  trip. 

"And  the  men?"  I  inquired. 

"Oh,  they  are  all  there,"  he  replied. 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF  1915-16  205 

It  now  began  to  look  much  as  though  the  main  ex- 
pedition would  relieve  the  relief  exi>edition.  But  to- 
morrow I  would  meet  Green  and  know  everything. 

All  the  igloos  were  crowded.  Rather  than  squeeze  in 
between  two  highly  i)erfumed  natives  and  awake  cov- 
ered with  lice,  I  preferred  to  pitch  my  tent  on  the  ice 
and  sleep  alone.  There  are  no  guest-chambers  in  the 
Northland.  One  room  in  a  house;  and  that  room  mostly 
bed,  and  in  that  bed  everybody  sleeping — father,  moth- 
er, all  the  children,  and  all  the  visitors.  Naturally  it  is 
a  commodious  bed  and  deep  in  skins  and  grass.  Each 
morning  the  lady  of  the  household  reaches  in  under 
the  skins  and  pulls  out  handfuls  of  grass  for  the  boots 
of  her  lord  and  master  and  of  her  children.  By  early 
spring  the  once  soft  mattress  has  disapj)eared  piece  by 
piece,  and  soft  spots  on  this  rocky  couch  are  rather  diffi- 
cult to  find. 

Oo-tah  called  to  pay  his  respects  in  the  evening  in 
company  with  his  newly  acquired  South  Greenland 
wife,  ordered  of  Rasmussen.  In  giving  this  commission 
Oo-tah  negligently  failed  to  specify  just  what  was 
wanted.  His  first  look  was  not  encouraging.  A  closer 
examination  was  discouraging.  He  didn't  want  her  and 
he  said  so;  nevertheless,  he  bravely  received  her  for  better 
or  worse,  without  ring  or  promise  or  other  ceremony. 
He  feels  better  now.  He  realizes  that  he  must  have 
been  mistaken  as  to  her  commercial  value.  Being  a 
stranger  in  the  tribe,  she  exchanges  fairly  well  for  the 
wives  of  his  friends,  and  is  even  loaned  for  a  month  at 
a  time  without  being  missed.  One  man  in  sp^eaking  of 
his  wife  declared  that  she  was  nearly  perfect.  She  had 
one  fault  only — she  didn't  like  to  be  loaned! 

In  the  evening  of  November  5th,  Green  arrived  in 


206      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Nov. 

company  with  Freuchen,  and  ref>orted  the  relief-ship, 
George  B.  Cluett,  frozen  in  for  the  winter  at  Parker  Snow 
Bay,  about  ninety  miles  by  dog-team  to  the  south. 
She  was  ill-prepared  to  spend  a  winter  in  the  North; 
the  crew  were  without  warm  clothes  and  had  but  little 
food. 

Doctor  Hovey  had  decided  to  retain  on  board  the 
ship  the  provisions  sent  up  to  me  by  my  good  friend, 
Mr.  M.  J.  Look,  of  Kingston,  New  York.  A  long  letter 
from  Doctor  Hovey  informed  me  fully  of  the  situation, 
of  his  grave  fears  for  the  winter,  of  his  plans  to  have 
the  party  sledged  to  South  Greenland  in  company  with 
the  annual  mail-teams  leaving  about  January  1st,  and 
of  his  great  desire  for  as  many  skins  as  I  could  possibly 
gather.  He  requested  that  Doctor  Hunt  should  be 
sent  to  the  ship  at  once  to  attend  tq  sickness  on  board. 
This  news  made  it  necessary  for  me  to  go  back  to  Etah 
immediately,  for  we  must  now  relieve  the  relief.  How- 
ever, we  could  not  start  back  that  day  on  account  of 
a  violent  wyxd,  which  drove  us  out  of  our  slatting  tent 
and  into  the  shelter  of  an  ab.an4oned  igloo. 

An  early  start  and  propitious  weather  on  the  8th 
enabled  our  dogs  to  cover  thirty  miles  on  the  back  trail 
to  Nerky,  where  we  rested  on  the  9th,  preparatory  for 
the  forty-eight  miles  to  Etah.  From  here  Na-hate-e- 
lah-o  was  sent  on  to  headquarters  with  instructions  to 
Doctor  Hunt  to  make  preparations  to  proceed  to  the 
ship  upon  my  arrival.  *■ 

Oi>en  water  off  Clements  Markham  Glacier  turned  us 
back  to  Nerky  on  the  10th.  This  was  but  preliminary 
to  a  long,  vexatious  delay  due  to  darkness  and  falling 
snow,  both  extremely  dangerous  when  dealing  with  thin 
ice  and  leads.    Poor  Green  had  been  suffering  for  some 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  «07 

days  with  a  bad  tooth.  On  the  morning  of  the  17th  he 
could  stand  it  no  longer,  and  begged  me  to  start  for  Etah 
where  he  could  place  himself  under  the  doctor's  care. 
He  will  never  forget  that  ride.  With  a  tooth  jumping 
and  throbbing,  the  pain  aggravated  by  every  inrush  of 
that  extremely  cold  air,  he  pluckily  drove  his  team  over 
the  Crystal  Palace  Glacier,  a  perfect  smother  of  rushing 
snow  and  wind. 

For  a  few  hundred  yards,  as  we  rounded  the  Crystal 
Palace  Cliffs,  I  had  never  encountered  any  weather  like  it, 
darkness  and  rough  ice  being  added  to  the  blinding, 
drifting  snow.  Not  a  man  could  face  it.  How  the 
dogs  did  I  do  not  know.  A  few  minutes'  trial  at  leading 
the  caravan  resulted  in  a  frozen  face  and  a  dropping 
back  to  the  rear,  and  the  second  adventurer  had  no  better 
luck.  When  we  reached  Borup  Lodge  my  face  was  so 
frost-bitten  and  I  was  so  covered  with  snow  that  Jot 
did  not  know  me.  He  and  Hunt  were  astounded  upon 
seeing  Green  and  hearing  of  the  detention  of  the  ship 
far  down  the  coast. 

On  the  22d,  with  three  sledges  piled  high  with  skins 
and  equipment.  Hunt  left  for  the  ship  at  Parker  Snow 
Bay.  On  the  25th,  Thanksgiving  Day,  the  remaining 
members  of  the  Crocker  Land  Exi>edition,  three  in  all, 
sat  down  to  a  glorious  dinner  consisting  of  roast  caribou, 
mashed  jwtato,  turnips,  cranberry  sauce,  cinnamon  roll, 
mince  pie,  plum  pudding,  chocolate  sauce,  and  what 
Jot  called  "shammy,"  half  grape- juice  and  half  whisky, 
and  coffee.  This  menu  is  fairly  good  proof  that  we,  in 
Etah,  were  not  yet  in  need  of  relief. 

On  the  29th  Green  refused  to  travel  without  the  aid 
of  Eskimos,  and  requested  me  to  obtain  help  from  Nerky, 
if  possible.     This  trip  was  replete  with  thrills  from  start 


208      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [Dec. 

to  finish,  and  nearly  cost  us  our  lives.  As  we  reached 
Cape  Kendrick  we  found  the  ice  very  thin,  but  went 
on,  trusting  to  luck  rather  than  upon  our  best  judgment. 
In  a  few  minutes  my  dogs  began  to  shove  their  feet 
through  the  ice,  one  dropping  in  completely.  Finally, 
my  sledge  broke  through.  Yelling  to  the  dogs,  I  threw 
myself  forward  onto  the  bow,  ready  to  grasp  the  traces 
if  the  sledge  should  go  under.  They  immediately  re- 
sponded to  the  call,  straining  with  every  ounce  that  was 
in  them,  and  succeeded  in  pulling  the  sledge  out  on  to 
solid  ice. 

Now  we  were  in  a  predicament;  it  was  so  dark  that 
we  could  see  but  a  few  yards,  and  that  few  yards  seemed 
all  open  water  and  thin  ice,  completely  encircling  the 
floe.  E-took-a-shoo,  after  carefully  probing  for  some 
time  with  his  harpoon,  finally  located  a  narrow  strip 
over  which  we  urged  the  dogs  on  the  run.  The  young 
ice  bent  Hke  leather,  but  fortunately  held.  But  when 
we  reached  the  south  side  of  the  Crystal  Palace  Glacier, 
to  our  disappointment  the  sea  ice  was  entirely  gone. 
Plodding  along  an  ice-foot  through  deep  snow  in  the 
dark,  faUing  into  cracks,  at  times  using  all  our  strength 
to  save  our  sledges  from  falling  oflf  into  the  sea  ice — 
well,  it  was  not  work  that  would  have  appealed  to 
the  most  ardent  enthusiast  of  the  Arctic.  We  arrived 
at  Sulwuddy  covered  with  sweat  and  suffering  from 
thirst. 

Our  run  the  next  day  to  Nerky  was  without  incident 
until  we  reached  the  rough  ice  off  the  front  of  the 
Diebitsch  Glacier.  Here  in  the  darkness  and  deep 
snow  we  wandered  aimlessly  for  some  time  until  the 
stars  enabled  us  to  direct  our  course  for  Cape  Robertson. 
One  day's  rest  at  Nerky  for  our  dogs,  and  back  we 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  209 

started  on  the  forty-eight-mile  trip  to  Etah.  Darkness 
and  open  water  both  uttered  a  decisive  "No!"  to  this 
plan  before  we  had  been  gone  two  hours;  then  it  began 
to  snow,  and  continued  to  do  so  until  the  8th,  giving  us 
an  opportunity  to  try  the  northward  trail  once  more. 
Leading  oflP  from  the  front  of  the  Clements  Markham 
Glacier  was  a  narrow  strip  of  black  water,  and  on  the 
other  side  were  two  dog-teams  with  their  drivers  curled  up 
on  their  loads  and  sound  asleep,  waiting  for  the  lead  to 
freeze.  Lashing  two  sledges  together,  the  older  men 
made  a  bridge  over  which  the  two  boys  brought  their 
sledges  and  their  dogs.  Their  rejwrt  of  the  condition 
of  the  ice  northward  precluded  any  further  attempt  to 
advance  for  that  day. 

On  the  13th  we  were  oflF  again,  encountering  at  the 
same  place  the  same  lead,  but  twice  as  wide.  Chafing 
considerably  at  the  long  delay,  I  told  the  Eskimos  that 
we  must  go  over  the  glacier.  We  found  this  covered 
with  nearly  two  feet  of  soft  snow  through  which  we 
wallowed  and  waded  without  snow-shoes,  fairly  tumbling 
down  the  northern  side,  the  sledges  and  dogs  nearly 
buried.  From  here  we  wallowed  and  waded  again  for 
a  mile,  finally  landing  upon  the  hard  ice-foot.  What 
a  rehef  it  was  to  snap  the  whip  and  feel  the  jumping, 
racing  sledge  bounding  into  Peteravik! 

Three  o'clock  of  the  next  day  found  us  rounding  Cape 
Chalon  and  laboriously  tracking  through  deep  snow  all 
the  way  to  Sulwuddy.  Here,  after  a  consultation  with 
the  Eskimos,  it  was  decided,  because  of  the  extremely 
heavy  wind  of  the  day  before,  that  our  chances  for  mak- 
ing Etah  were  excellent.  For  five  miles  the  sea  ice  was 
perfect,  cleared  and  swept  by  the  wind. 

About  two  miles  below  Retreat  Cove  open  water  com- 


210      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Dec. 

pelled  us  to  take  to  the  ice-foot.  Here  our  troubles 
began.  Huge  snow-drifts  on  the  hillside  fell  abruptly 
into  the  sea.  It  was  more  like  mountain-climbing  than 
sledging.  We  cut  our  way  along  these  dangerous 
slopes  with  our  hatchets,  so  hard  and  slippery  that  it 
was  impossible  to  walk  upright  on  them.  Three  times 
my  sledge  skidded  down  the  slof>e  and  disapi>eared  over 
the  edge,  being  held  only  by  the  bow,  the  dogs  dropping 
to  their  bellies  and  clinging  to  the  hard  snow  with  their 
toes.  The  first  time  I  was  foolhardy  enough  to  hold 
on  to  the  sledge  and  try  to  save  it.  When  on  the  very 
brink  I  realized  that  I  was  gone  and  prepared  myself  for 
the  splash  into  the  water  which  I  knew  to  be  below. 
To  my  astonishment  and  satisfaction,  the  water  only 
reached  my  waist,  for  it  happened  to  be  low  tide,  thus 
saving  me  from  a  complete  bath.  The  sledge  was  with 
me,  bottom  up,  with  bows  resting  against  the  face  of 
the  ice.  With  the  help  of  Ka-ko-tchee-a,  I  was  soon  out, 
beating  the  forming  ice  from  my  bearskin  pants  with 
the  snow-beater  and  stripping  off  the  wet  boots  to  be 
replaced  with  a  dry  pair  of  Ak-pood-a-shah-o's.  Within 
a  half-hour  the  devil-bewitched  sledge  rej)eated  this 
operation  twice.  Once  it  was  saved  by  fat  old  Ah-took- 
sung-wa,  the  wife  of  Panikpa,  who  sat  down  on  the 
traces  and  called  lustily  for  help. 

My  sledge  was  now  a  mass  of  ice  and  my  sleeping- 
bag  full  of  salt  water.  I  must  go  on.  A  low  temj>era- 
ture  on  the  surface  of  the  glacier  would  have  made  jt 
most  uncomfortable  for  us  that  night,  covered  with 
perspiration  as  we  were  from  our  late  exertions.  Fort- 
unately, there  was  a  light  breeze  and  a  temperature 
of  only  ten  below.  Sixteen  hours  was  our  time  for  the 
forty-eight  miles,  the  longest  and  hardest  trip  over 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  211 

that  course  for  four  years,  a  course  which  we  had  re- 
peatedly covered  in  nine  hours. 

Within  two  days  we  were  headed  for  the  ship  at 
Parker  Snow  Bay,  each  sledge  loaded  with  about  350 
pounds,  all  the  equipment  requested  by  Doctor  Hovey 
and  consisting  of  pemmican,  oil,  skins,  clothing,  snow- 
shoes,  and  trading  material.  Familiarity  now  with  the 
dangerous  spots  along  the  ice-foot  below  Cai>e  Alex- 
ander enabled  us  to  complete  the  trip  with  safety  and 
much  more  easily  than  we  had  done  a  few  days  before. 
At  the  end  of  the  trip,  however,  we  were  ready  to  crawl 
into  our  warm  bags  and  eat  all  that  the  law  allowed. 

At  Nerky,  Ah-now-ka  handed  me  a  letter  from  Doctor 
Hovey,  stating  that  the  food  was  very  low  and  that 
their  condensed  milk,  butter,  and  sugar  would  all  be 
gone  in  a  very  short  time.  It  was  absolutely  necessary, 
he  thought,  that  they  should  all  leave  the  ship  and  go 
to  Etah.  Ever  mindful  of  the  needs  of  the  men  on 
board,  as  we  proceeded  through  the  Eskimo  villages 
we  continued  to  trade  hareskin  for  stockings,  ook- 
juk-skins  for  boot  soles,  and  dogskins  for  mittens. 
Good  going  all  the  way  down  the  line  spurred  us  on 
to  reach  Umanak  on  Christmas  Eve,  where  Freuchen 
was  expected  to  entertain  all  the  members  of  the  Crocker 
Land  Exi>edition. 

In  contrast  to  our  visualization  of  a  warm,  well- 
lighted  house,  plenty  of  food,  and  a  jolly,  laughing 
band  of  men,  we  found  a  cold,  dark  house  inhabited 
only  by  a  few  Eskimos.  The  joys  of  a  home  Christmas 
were  very,  very  far  away  from  us  that  night.  The 
arrival  of  Freuchen,  Hunt,  and  Captain  Comer  on  the 
next  day,  however,  partly  comi>ensated  for  our  loss  of 
a  happy  Christmas;  the  latter  was  the  ice  pilot  on  the 


212      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Dec. 

Cluett  and  a  famous  old  whaling  captain  from  East 
Haddam,  Connecticut.  I  had  never  seen  Captain 
Comer  before,  but  I  had  read  much  about  him;  a 
thorough  seaman,  he  interested  me  greatly. 

The  difference  in  the  temperature  between  Etah  and 
Umanak  was  very  noticeable.  Etah,  because  of  its 
contiguity  to  the  large  strip  of  op>en  water  always  found 
off  Cap>e  Alexander,  and  because  of  the  adiabatic  heating 
from  the  downrush  of  air  from  the  summit  of  the  Green- 
land ice-cap,  is  considered  to  be  the  warmest  settle- 
ment in  the  North;  it  has  a  mean  annual  temperature 
of  +  8°  F.  On  December  26th  at  Etah,  the  lowest  tem- 
j>erature  recorded  during  the  day  was  fifteen  below  zero; 
at  Umanak,  North  Star  Bay,  upon  the  same  day,  the 
temperature  stood  at  forty-two  below. 

I  learned  from  Freuchen  that  the  plans  for  sledging 
the  boys  south  were  very  indefinite.  Fearing  a  repeti- 
tion of  the  hardships  of  our  1915  trip,  I  deemed  it 
necessary  to  consult  with  Doctor  Hovey  at  once.  On 
the  26th,  in  company  with  Na-hate-e-lah-o,  I  proceeded 
over  the  land  southward  to  Parker  Snow  Bay,  reaching 
the  ship  about  seven  in  the  evening,  to  be  greeted 
in  Eskimo  by  Captain  Pickles  as  we  drove  up  to  the 
rail.  Ekblaw,  Tanquary,  Allen,  and  Doctor  Hovey  were 
comfortably  quartered  in  the  after  cabin  of  the  ship; 
the  first  three  looked  the  picture  of  health,  but  the  last 
named  seemed  old  and  decidedly  unfit  for  the  sledge 
trip  planned  across  Melville  Bay.  In  view  of  the  f^ct 
that  only  four  men  could  be  transported  to  Upernavik 
by  the  Eskimos,  Doctor  Hovey  and  I  decided  that, 
including  himself,  the  party  should  consist  of  Tanquary, 
Allen,  and  Green,  all  of  whom  were  very  anxious  to 
go;   and,  coincidentally,  the  least  fitted,  in  the  opinion 


1915]  THE  WINTER  OP  1915-16  218 

of  Doctor  Hunt,  to  withstand  the  rigors  and  privations 
of  a  third  year.  Tanquary,  I  hoped,  would  consent  to 
remain  with  Ekblaw  and  Hunt  at  the  sub-station  at 
North  Star  Bay.  The  stubs  of  his  toes  were  healing 
rapidly.  Doctor  Hunt,  who,  for  many  reasons,  should 
have  been  given  first  place  on  the  retreat,  magnani- 
mously consented  to  remain  in  the  North,  where  his  ser- 
vices, in  case  of  sickness  or  accident,  either  at  Etah, 
TJmanak,  or  on  the  ship,  could  be  available. 

With  plans  completed  and  everything  settled  I  was 
away  again  northward  by  way  of  the  sea  ice,  reaching 
Umanak  in  twelve  hours  with  my  face  a  bit  frosted. 
My  dogs,  fed  on  caplin  {Mallotus  villosus),  were  now 
in  wretched  condition,  for  they  had  been  traveling  for 
three  months  with  but  little  rest.  Not  an  ounce  of 
meat  at  Umanak,  and  the  dogs  too  weak  to  travel ! 

Koo-la-ting-wa,  a  good  fellow,  lived  at  Netcbilik, 
some  sixty  miles  north.  His  caches  were  filled  with 
narwhal.  I  would  send  for  him  to  come  at  once  and 
bring  meat  for  my  dogs.  On  the  third  day  he  was  there 
with  all  the  meat  needed,  enabling  me  to  start  right 
back  with  him  and  the  other  Eskimos  on  January  4th. 

Koo-la-ting-wa  accompanied  me  all  the  way  to  Etah, 
where  we  arrived  on  January  12th,  finding  Jot,  the  only 
white  man  left,  happy  and  well  and  full  of  interesting 
experiences  which  he  could  narrate  in  a  most  masterly 
manner.  Jot  is  a  born  story-teller,  drafting  his  partially 
bald  head,  his  wizened  face,  his  arms,  hands,  and  body 
completely  into  his  service  as  a  raconteur. 

During  my  absence  We-we,  our  house  servant,  dis- 
covered a  can  of  whisky  in  the  medical  department. 
Jot  consented  to  her  request  that  she  should  hold  exer- 
cises commemorative  of  her  two-year  anniversary  at 


214      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

Borup  Lodge.  After  pouring  out  the  precious  beverage 
into  six  cups,  she  placed  them  carefully  on  the  pantry 
shelf  to  await  the  arrival  of  her  invited  guests,  all  of 
whom  felt  highly  honored  and  very  much  elated  in 
anticipation  of  the  promised  treat.  Unsusi>ecting,  she 
left  the  room.  Upon  her  return  some  minutes  later 
things  did  not  look  right  nor  smell  right. 

Seated  in  the  middle  of  the  floor  was  Noo-ka-ping-wa, 
her  youthful  husband,  wearing  a  foolish  grin,  spasmodi- 
cally broken  by  hearty  guffaws  and  accompanied  by  a 
swaying  of  the  body  and  a  slapping  of  the  palm  of  his 
hand  against  his  thigh  in  self-congratulation  at  his 
trickery.  The  whisky  was  gone!  Noo-ka-ping-wa  had 
celebrated  the  anniversary  by  drinking  enough  for  six! 
Result — a  fine  drunk  and  then  a  drag-out  an  hour  later. 
The  invited  and  exj)ectant  women,  failing  utterly  to 
appreciate  the  incident,  walked  solemnly  back  to  their 
tea  and  dog-biscuit. 

Contrary  to  the  general  understanding  of  Arctic  work, 
every  hour  was  fully  occupied,  even  through  the  dark 
days  of  winter.  There  were  meteorological  observations 
to  be  recorded,  chronometers  to  wind,  barographs  and 
thermographs  to  attend  to,  twelve  dogs  to  care  for  and 
feed,  food  to  be  dug  out  of  the  snow,  meat  to  be  secured 
from  caches  down  the  coast,  frozen  eggs  to  be  brought 
from  Littleton  Island,  and  constant  preparations  going 
on  for  the  long,  forthcoming  spring  trip  which  I  was 
planning  to  make  to  King  Christian  Island.  *' 

If  it  were  not  for  such  busy  days,  one  would  certainly 
become  demented  with  the  almost  constant  howling  of 
the  violent  winds  f>eculiar  to  Foulke  Fiord.  We  often 
drove  from  the  beauty  and  quietness  of  a  perfect  Arctic 
night  ten  miles  below  Etah  into  a  maelstrom  of  whirl- 


1916]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  215 

ing  snows  swept  from  the  neighboring  1,000-foot  hills 
toward  the  open  water  in  the  middle  of  the  Sound. 
Such  weather  conditions  were  a  bit  discouraging  to  a 
man  ambitious  to  maintain  his  good  health  by  daily 
exercise,  which  is  just  as  essential  as  good  food.  How 
we  berated  those  winds!  And  yet  we  realized  that  but 
for  those  winds  our  fiord  would  be  deep  with  snow, 
making  good  walking  and  sledging  most  difficult.  With 
hands  clasped  behind  the  back  and  body  thrown  for- 
ward, so  that  our  heads  were  level  with  our  waists,  we 
have  bucked  those  biting  winds  for  weeks  and  months. 

Panikpa  surprised  us  on  January  31st  with  the  report 
that  he  had  seen  and  fired  at  two  caribou  at  Alida  Lake, 
four  miles  from  the  house.  Sixty  years  ago  they  were 
so  numerous  that  often  100  could  be  counted  feeding 
around  the  shores  of  this  lake.  Doctor  Hayes,  when 
wintering  across  the  harbor,  having  more  fresh  meat 
than  he  could  possibly  use,  fed  his  dogs  upon  caribou 
meat. 

Panikpa's  report  put  every  one  on  the  alert.  Caribou 
meat  at  this  time  of  year  would  make  a  delightful  change 
from  walrus  and  seal.  Continuous  heavy  wind  and 
snow,  however,  discouraged  us  from  climbing  the  hills 
to  the  plateau  above,  the  wind-swept  feeding-ground  of 
Arctic  hare,  caribou,  and,  ib.  years  gone  by,  of  musk- 
oxen.  Many  of  the  massive  skulls  of  the  last  named 
were  found  in  the  vicinity  of  Etah.  At  the  present 
time,  however,  this  species  does  not  exist  upon  this 
western  coast  until  the  latitude  of  81°  is  reached. 

On  February  14th  a  drop  in  the  wind  and  a  rise  of 
temperature  to  eighteen  below  zero  started  both  Jot 
and  me  out  with  our  rifles,  I  to  the  lake,  where  there 
were  unusually  large  numbers  of  blue  foxes,  and  Jot 


216       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

to  the  plateau,  where  he  discovered  two  caribou.  They 
were  the  first  he  had  ever  seen  and  they  more  than 
attracted  his  attention.  He  declared  afterward  that 
buck  fever  was  a  kind  of  paralysis.  That  he  was  not 
wholly  affected  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  shot  both 
of  them. 

Laying  aside  his  rifle,  he  walked  toward  the  edge  of 
the  cliff,  and  within  a  few  minutes  found  himself  face 
to  face  with  three  more.  By  this  time  he  was  consider- 
ably excited,  and  arrived  at  the  house  quite  out  of 
breath.  He  and  Panikpa  started  back  at  once,  without 
their  rifles,  with  the  intention  of  shooting  the  bodies 
down  the  1,000-foot  slope  to  the  sea  ice,  where  I  would 
be  stationed  with  the  dog-team.  Two  hundred  yards 
from  the  house  four  more  caribou  ix)pi>ed  around  a  cor- 
ner only  a  few  yards  away.  Jot  arrived  at  the  house 
wild-eyed,  shouting  that  the  country  was  crawling  with 
caribou ! 

Because  of  deep  snows  covering  their  feeding-grounds 
between  Etah  and  the  Humboldt  Glacier,  the  herd  was 
evidently  migrating  south  along  the  shore  in  search  of 
various  lichens,  ground-wiUow,  grass,  and  moss.  Many 
were  killed  in  our  vicinity  within  the  next  six  weeks; 
they  were  all  small,  the  heaviest  weighing  only  120 
pounds. 

This  is  not  the  white  caribou  (Rangifer  pearyi)  which 
we  had  killed  on  the  northern  shores  of  Axel  Heiberg 
Land  in  1914,  but  a  variety  of  the  European  {Rangifer 
groenlandicus) ,  once  existing  in  vast  numbers  from  the 
Humboldt  Glacier,  latitude  79°  10',  throughout  the 
whole  stretch  of  coast-line  southward  to  Cape  Farewell, 
latitude  59°  49'. 

Formerly  hunted  with  bow  and  arrow  and  even  with 


1916]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  217 

the  killing-iron,  the  reindeer,  or  caribou,  had  a  chance 
for  his  life;  but  since  the  advent  of  the  modem  high- 
powered  rifle  the  sp>ecies  has  decreased  rapidly  in  num- 
bers. At  one  time  16,000  skins  were  exported  annually 
from  the  royal  trading-stations  of  Greenland;  at  the 
present  time  hardly  a  skin  leaves  the  country. 

An  interesting  belief  exists  among  the  Eskimos  of 
Baffin  Land  in  regard  to  an  albino  caribou.  This  cari- 
bou, supposed  to  have  been  hatched  from  a  white  egg 
somewhat  larger  than  that  of  a  goose,  must  never  be 
killed,  for  death  to  the  hunter  would  follow  unless  cer- 
tain penalties,  impKJsed  in  violation  of  the  taboo,  were 
suffered  for  one  year.  For  example:  (1)  he  must  not 
work  an  iron;  (2)  the  hood  of  the  coat  must  be  worn 
over  the  head;  (3)  he  must  wear  a  belt;  (4)  blood  must 
not  be  removed  from  the  clothing.  If  these  customs 
are  not  observed,  the  offender  will  be  covered  with  boils 
and  will  certainly  die.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  nothing 
is  done  to  displease  a  caribou,  the  man  will  become  a 
great  angakok,  a  shaman,  or  medicine-man. 

News  reached  us  by  dog-team  on  February  15th  of 
the  departure  of  the  mail-teams  southward  bearing  Tan- 
qiiary,  Allen,  and  Green  back  to  civilization;  and  of  the 
expected  physical  breakdown  of  Doctor  Hovey,  which 
had  compelled  him  to  return  to  the  ship.  He  was  game 
to  the  last,  and  did  not  give  up  until  he  had  convinced 
himself  that  it  could  not  be  done. 

On  Washington's  Birthday  we  were  off  to  the  south, 
our  impatient  and  well-rested  dogs  almost  uncontrollable, 
and  covering  the  distance  between  our  lodge  and  Port 
Foulke,  Hayes's  winter  quarters,  within  a  few  minutes. 
Again,  as  in  the  past,  my  impetuosity  nearly  cost  me  my 
life.     My  dogs,  leading  by  200  yards,  dashed  south- 


218      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Feb. 

ward  over  the  sea  ice  almost  to  the  water's  edge,  when 
repeated  warning  cries  from  the  Eskimos  revealed  the 
startling  fact  that  I  was  adrift  on  a  large  sheet  of  ice. 
The  telltale  crack  had  caught  the  sharp  eyes  of  the 
natives,  while  the  unsusp)ecting  and  inexperienced  white 
man  had  driven  straight  on  into  danger. 

Around  we  whirled  and  back  we  went  into  the  face 
of  the  rising  wind,  but,  oh,  how  slowly!  What  was  the 
matter  with  my  dogs!  The  crack  was  steadily  widening, 
but  as  yet  not  too  wide  for  the  leap.  As  I  looked  back 
at  the  white  patches  drifting  to  leeward  into  the  heavy 
vapor  arising  from  a  white-capp>ed  sea,  I  knew  that 
life  out  there  would  be  a  matter  of  only  a  few  hours. 
To  swim  would  have  been  the  only  recourse  and  the 
fatal  result  almost  certain. 

A  survey  from  the  summit  of  the  hill  below  Port 
Fouike  revealed  open  water  at  Cape  Kendrick  to  the 
south.  Heavy  wind  on  the  ice-cap,  as  evidenced  by 
the  smoky  appearance  above  the  rounded  dome,  com- 
pelled us  to  abandon  our  trip  and  return  to  Etah. 

A  few  hours  after  our  arrival,  to  our  astonishment 
old  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  and  his  wife,  Inah-loo,  were 
seen  driving  across  the  harbor  from  the  south,  causing 
the  Eskimos  to  remark  laughingly  that  they  must  have 
come  by  ship.  They  confirmed  our  fears  of  open  water, 
having  followed  the  ice-foot  for  days  on  their  way  north- 
ward, and  at  last  reaching  home  by  encircling  the 
Crystal  Palace  Cliffs  and  Cape  Kendrick  at  the  edge*of 
the  glacier,  returning  to  the  sea  ice  by  way  of  the  Sonn- 
tag  Pass. 

A  few  days  later  a  repeated  "Ah-ch6ok,  ah-ch6ok, 
ah-ch6ok,"  coming  from  the  darkness  well  out  in  the 
fiord,  was  followed  by  the  api>earance  of  two  sledges 


1916]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  219 

and  three  men — Ekblaw,  Mene,  and  Oo-bloo-ya.  0|>en 
water  had  comi>elled  them  to  cross  the  ice-cap  from  the 
head  of  the  Clements  Markham  Glacier.  Missing  the 
Sonntag  Pass,  they  had  attempted  a  descent  on  the 
south  side  of  the  fiord,  resulting  in  considerable  excite- 
ment and  the  wrecking  of  Mene*s  sledge. 

Ekblaw  had  been  one  week  on  the  road.  He  re- 
ported that  Captain  Comer  was  in  charge  of  the  sub- 
station and  that  Doctor  Hunt  was  at  the  ship,  where 
he  was  needed  in  attendance  up)on  a  young  man  suffer- 
ing with  tuberculosis  of  the  bowels.  His  recovery  was 
considered  doubtful.  Doctor  Hovey  was  in  very  p)oor 
health,  but  was  slowly  recovering  from  the  keen  dis- 
appointment exj)erienced  by  his  compulsory  return. 

It  was  good  to  see  Ek  again,  for  Jot  and  I  had  talked 
each  other  pretty  well  out.  Fortunately,  we  were  born 
in  the  same  place,  Provincetown,  Massachusetts,  and 
had  much  in  common.  Every  wharf,  building,  home, 
street,  person,  crab,  and  fish  was  talked  over  again  and 
again.  In  naming  every  house  from  one  end  of  the 
old  town  to  the  other  we  stood  ready  to  correct  each 
other  if  a  single  mistake  were  made. 

The  long  spring  trip  was  always  the  culmination  of 
our  winter's  work  and  plans.  A  few  more  skins  for 
boots  and  mittens,  and  rawhide  lines  for  sledge  lashing 
and  whips,  were  needed;  these  could  undoubtedly  be 
secured  at  Nerky,  to  which  we  directed  our  course  on 
the  29th,  via  the  ice-cap  route. 

Due  to  a  strong  northeast  wind  and  heavy  drift, 
Mene  and  I  lost  Oo-bloo-ya  and  Noo-ka-ping-wa  within 
an  hour.  As  we  arrived  in  sight  of  the  projecting  cliffs, 
in  the  region  of  Cape  Saumarez  and  Csipe  Robertson, 
neither  of  us  knew  where  we  were.     I  had  been  there 

15 


«20      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

only  once  before,  and  then  by  moonlight,  and  Mene 
had  never  crossed  from  north  to  south. 

We  hardly  knew  what  to  do  in  our  dilemma.  To 
await  the  men  and  have  them  pass  unseen  would  result 
in  our  sleeping  on  the  ice-cap  with  no  sleeping-bags — 
not  a  warm  outlook.  There  were  ominous  discomforts 
and  no  small  amount  of  danger  in  going  on.  A  descent 
by  the  wrong  glacier  might  result  in  a  drop  into  one  of 
the  numerous  intersecting  cracks,  or  we  might  bring 
up  against  a  vertical  face  blocking  our  course  com- 
pletely. 

We  went  on.  The  sastrugi  (wind-carved  ridges)  cut 
our  path  at  right  angles,  and  the  intervening  hollows  gave 
to  our  sledges  the  motion  of  a  ship  in  a  heavy  sea.  I 
was  too  much  occupied  with  the  antics  of  my  own  sledge, 
and  I  soon  lost  Mene  as  he  disappeared  in  the  dark- 
ness, stern  first,  after  running  over  his  dogs  and  cap- 
sizing his  sledge.  He  was  waiting  for  me  at  the  bottom 
of  the  Clements  Markham  Glacier,  having  made  record 
time. 

Even  here,  where  sea  ice  generally  exists,  there  was 
op>en  water,  which  forced  us  to  take  to  the  ice-foot 
along  the  shore  until  we  were  blocked  by  a  projecting 
buttress.  As  we  had  no  testing-iron,  we  wisely  ran  no 
risks;  we  could  plainly  see  phosphorescence  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  ice,  indicative  of  only  a  few  hours*  freezing. 

We  made  tea  and  ate  a  piece  of  chocolate — all  we 
had — under  a  shelf  of  rock.  Within  an  hour  the  other 
two  men  overtook  us,  exclaiming  that  they  thought  we 
were  back  on  the  glacier. 

As  we  were  about  to  prepare  for  the  night,  to  my 
astonishment  we  saw  a  light  out  on  the  ice.  Noo- 
ka-ping-wa  was  looking  it  over  with  a  candle,  and  he 


1916]  THE  WINTER  OF   1915-16  221 

declared  it  to  be  perfectly  safe.  We  drove  on  at  once 
to  Nerky  and  remained  three  nights. 

On  the  return  trip  we  sp>ent  a  few  days  at  Kah-gun 
in  the  snow  houses  of  Tung-we  and  Teddy-ling-wa. 
With  the  constant  breaking  away  of  the  sea  ice  they  had 
had  no  opportunity  of  hunting  walrus  or  seal,  and  con- 
sequently had  but  little  food.  In  one  of  the  igloos 
rockweed  (Fucus)  was  being  boiled  for  the  children,  a 
food  which  is  never  resorted  to  until  all  other  sustenance 
is  practically  gone. 

In  the  ascent  of  the  Clements  Markham  Glacier  on 
the  7th  my  big  king-dog  dropped  down  a  crevasse. 
Fortunately  for  us  both,  his  trace  and  harness  were 
strong  enough  to  sustain  his  weight  until  pulled  back 
to  safety.  A  much  too  valuable  dog  to  lose.  His  price 
had  been  five  gallons  of  oil  and  a  three-burner  stove. 
But  a  dozen  stoves  or  a  hundred  gallons  of  oil  wouldn't 
buy  him  now!  Nale-gark-suah  was  the  largest  dog  in 
the  whole  Northern  tribe,  and,  although  one  of  the 
oldest,  he  was  still  one  of  the  very  best.  He  was  a 
noted  bear-hunter  and  yet  as  affectionate  as  a  child. 
When  he  placed  his  great  paws  on  my  shoulders  his  face 
was  on  a  level  with  my  own. 

We  directed  our  course  to  Etah  by  the  most  direct 
way,  a  bee-line  to  Brother  John's  GUcier;  but  when  in 
sight  of  land  a  heavy  mist  rolled  up  from  open  water, 
obliterating  all  familiar  marks.  It  was  a  question  now 
as  to  which  course  to  follow.  The  glacier  (Brother 
John's)  might  be  dangerous  at  this  time  of  year.  The 
Sonntag  Pass  was  too  far  to  the  southwest  and  was 
lost  in  the  mist.  Before  us  to  our  left  stretched  the 
boulder-strewn  plateau,  the  summit  of  the  great  hills 
above  Etah.     We  knew  that  the  Eskimos  sometimes 


222      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mas. 

traveled  by  way  of  the  plateau  and  we  ventured  to  try 
it,  although  neither  of  us  had  ever  been  that  way. 

Every  rock  and  knoll  looked  like  a  mountain  in  the 
magnifying  mist.  So  deceiving  were  appearances  that 
for  some  minutes  I  was  in  doubt  as  to  our  being  in  the 
vicinity  of  Etah  at  all.  At  length  we  recognized  a  small 
butte,  visible  from  the  door  of  our  house,  and  this  identi- 
fied our  location  jx)sitively. 

So  compact  was  the  snow  on  the  slope  downward  to 
the  sea  ice  that  it  was  entirely  out  of  the  question  to 
consider  driving  down,  or  even  holding  back  on  the 
sledge  with  the  dogs  in  the  rear,  an  expedient  often 
adopted  on  a  sharp  descent.  Whereup>on  Noo-ka- 
ping-wa  resorted  to  the  ruse  of  placing  the  sledge  on  its 
side,  the  ends  of  the  crossbars  and  one  upstander  scor- 
ing the  snow  deeply  and  serving  as  an  effective  brake. 
The  dogs,  threatened  with  the  whip,  sat  back  in  their 
harness  and  helped  considerably.  Finally,  covered  with 
sweat,  barehanded  and  bareheaded,  and  stripped  to  our 
undershirts,  we  arrived  at  the  surface  of  the  fiord,  and 
within  a  few  minutes  stood  in  front  of  our  door. 


XI 

TO   KING   CHRISTIAN  ISLAND 

TN  Sherard  Osborn's  journal,  under  date  of  April  29, 
•*■  1853,  appears  the  following  passage: 

About  thirty  miles  to  the  N.  W.  (or  more),  I  distinctly  saw 
land  looming;  it  appeared  extensive,  and  I  took  the  bearing  of  the 
two  parts  of  it  and  not  the  extremes. 

This  land  was  seen  from  the  northwestern  extremity 
of  Bathurst  Island  and  was  called  Finlay  Land. 

On  April  27,  1901,  Isachsen  and  Hassel,  of  the  Sver- 
drup  Expedition,  when  sledging  along  the  southern 
shores  of  Ellef  Ringnes  Island,  descried  a  land  which 
was  subsequently  named  King  Christian  Island. 

Geographers  have  considered  Finlay  Land  and  King 
Christian  Island  to  be  one  and  the  same  land,  the 
southern  part  in  76°  53'  N.  and  the  northern  in  77°  50', 
with  an  area  of  some  3,000  square  miles.  Up  to  the 
date  of  our  sailing,  the  unity  of  these  two  lands  had  been 
accepted  without  question.  To  encircle,  map,  and  ex- 
plore one  or  both  was  the  task  assigned  to  me  in  ac- 
cordance with  our  plans  for  a  survey  of  the  region  north 
of  the  Parry  Islands,  as  announced  by  the  American 
Museum  of  Natural  History. 

"Strong  northeast  wind  with  heavy  drift'*  is  the 


224      FOUR   YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

common  entry  in  my  journal  for  the  first  seventeen  days 
of  March,  1916.  Wind  and  drift,  man's  two  great  an- 
tagonists in  the  North,  so  thoroughly  hated  and  cursed 
by  the  Arctic  explorer!  "Hellish'*  is  the  only  fittingly 
descriptive  word.  Man  hums  to  himself,  calls  cheerily 
to  his  dogs,  and  laughs  aloud  in  temperatures  of  fifty 
and  sixty  below,  clothed  as  he  should  be,  like  an  Eskimo; 
but  wind  at  that  temp)erature  cuts  like  acid,  blackens 
the  face,  and  whitens  the  fingers. 

Through  the  drift,  swirling  about  our  house  and 
across  the  fiord,  I  anxiously  watched  the  harbor  entrance 
for  crawling  black  dots — dog-teams  coming  from  the 
south,  my  Eskimo  helpers  who  had  promised  to  be  at 
Etah  on  March  15th.  Carefully  I  had  made  out  their 
calendars;  carefully  I  had  instructed  them,  whenever 
it  grew  dark,  to  cross  out  a  day;  then,  when  the  last 
day  was  gone,  they  were  to  come  to  me.  I  had  abso- 
lute faith  in  these  black-haired  Polar  children.  They 
had  not  forgotten.  Wind  and  drift  would  not  stop 
them.  Open  water  was  the  cause  of  their  delay,  and 
so  it  proved  to  be. 

Before  breakfast  on  Sunday  morning,  March  19th, 
there  was  the  glad  cry  of  "  In-yuk-suit  alla-kuk-a-yootl" 
("Eskimos  are  coming!").  Such  an  early  arrival  indi- 
cated that  open  water  and  thin  ice  had  been  encountered 
a  few  miles  south  the  night  before,  both  dangerous  to 
deal  with  in  the  darkness.  One  man  only  was  missing, 
and  I  could  not  wait  for  him.  I  decided  to  get  away  ©n 
the  22d  with  six  Eskimos  with  very  light  loads.  Travel- 
ing light  and  fast,  we  could  round  and  map  King  Chris- 
tian Island  and  Finlay  Land  (neither  of  which  had 
ever  been  visited),  and  return  to  Etah  before  the  ice 
of  Smith  Sound  broke  up  in  June.    If  too  late  in  re- 


1916]  TO  KING   CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  «25 

crossing,  I  could  establish  quarters  at  Cape  Sabine  and 
there  await  the  reHef-ship,  which  was  expected  in 
August. 

March  20th,  the  advent  of  spring  at  home,  was  a 
howler — blowing,  snowing,  drifting,  and  seven  below. 
Our  Eskimo  women  took  a  last  look  at  our  boots  and 
mittens,  examined  each  carefully  for  rips,  and  softened 
the  soles  and  padded  in  dry  grass. 

The  storm  continued  on  the  21st,  with  no  prospect 
of  ceasing.  The  barometer  mounted  to  the  extraordi- 
nary height  of  30.83. 

On  the  morrow  I  jump  out  of  bed  to  the  tune  of 
rushing  winds  and  driving  snow.  ** Don't  you  think  for 
a  minute  you  are  going  to  hold  us  up,"  I  mutter  to 
myself  as  I  yank  on  my  kamiks.  Strange  how  conver- 
sational a  man  gets  to  be  with  the  elements  of  the 
North!  He  treats  them  as  living  personalities;  he 
abuses,  curses,  and  fights  them  to  the  limit.  When 
drifting  snows  bury  dog  and  sledge  and  trail;  when  faces 
and  fingers  are  black  with  frost  and  lips  cracked  and 
bleeding;  when  the  numbed  hands  refuse  to  work;  when 
thin  ice  and  oj)en  leads  offer  no  escape;  when  the  wind 
suddenly  whips  around  and  cuts  off  the  path  which 
leads  toward  home;  when  dogs  drop  with  weariness  in 
harness  and  follow  with  eyes  which  haunt  for  days  the 
retreating  forms  of  their  masters;  when  blackness  blots 
the  stars  and  grips  the  earth,  and  fuel  is  low;  when 
rocks  leap  and  bound  from  the  cliffs  above,  grazing 
tupiks,  men,  dogs,  and  sledges — what  better  proof  that 
this  is  the  chosen  home  of  Torngak,  the  evil  spirit? 
Animism  is  real  and  is  easily  understood.  When  amid 
the  shriek  of  winds  the  Eskimo  hears  strange  voices  in 
the  blackness  of  the  Arctic  night,  and  sees  strange  forms, 


226      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

I  do  not  smile  or  question.  They  are  as  real  to  the  sav- 
age as  God  is  to  the  civilized  man. 

For  months  my  Eskimos  have  known  my  objective 
point.  The  way  is  long,  the  time  is  short,  yet  they  are 
willing  to  face  wind  and  drift  if  I  say  the  word.  "Once 
around  Sunrise  Point  and  we  shall  have  the  drift  at 
our  backs,"  I  say,  encouragingly.  They  smile  as  they 
pull  their  kool-e-tahs  over  their  heads.  They  are  going 
far  to  the  west,  to  a  new  land,  where  none  of  their 
tribe  have  ever  journeyed,  and  there  we  shall  see  strange 
things.  There  we  shall  kill  musk-oxen,  and  polar  bears, 
and  white  wolves,  and  caribou,  and  Arctic  hare.  And 
meat!  Our  sledges  will  be  red  with  meat.  And  skins! 
Our  beds  in  our  winter  igloos  will  be  warm  and  deep  in 
skins.  What  ideal  traveling  companions  the  Eskimos 
are!  Children  in  their  simplicity,  men  of  iron  in  their 
make-up.  Tireless  and  fearless;  happy  and  confident; 
honest  and  faithful;  savage,  yet  full  of  kindness  of  heart; 
ignorant,  yet  truly  educated;  lawless,  yet  lawful;  im- 
moral, yet  shaming  the  moral;  healthy,  strong,  vigorous, 
intelligent — ^such  is  this  primitive  man  who  knows  noth- 
ing of  our  boasted  civilization. 

Rounding  the  Sunrise  Point  of  Doctor  Hayes,  we 
swing  up  past  historic  Littleton  Island.  It  is  the  focus- 
ing-point  of  Smith  Sound  history.  Swept  by  winds, 
worn  by  the  Arctic  pack,  it  stands  in  the  swirling  tides 
of  Cai>e  Ohlsen  as  a  guide-j)ost  to  the  Pole. 

With  wind  and  drift  at  our  back,  we  fairly  raced 
through  the  narrow  channel  between  Littleton  Island 
and  the  mainland,  and  were  soon  lost  among  the  rough 
ice  north  of  the  Polarises  winter  quarters.  To  my  sur- 
prise, the  ice  beneath  the  deep  snow  was  very  thin  and 
treacherous.     Four  of  my  team  were  sooii  floundering 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  227 

in  a  deep  hole.  Three  of  the  dogs,  in  their  endeavor  to 
get  out,  scrambled  onto  the  back  of  the  king-dog.  For 
a  few  minutes  I  thought  that  he  would  surely  be 
drowned.  Weighing  nearly  one  hundred  pounds  and 
thoroughly  water-soaked,  it  was  only  with  great  diflB- 
culty  that  I  succeeded  in  getting  him  onto  the  surface 
of  the  ice. 

Gradually  we  picked  up  one  another  near  Cairn 
Point,  each  man's  clothes  driven  full  of  snow,  and  his 
sledge  resembling  a  small  iceberg.  Open  water  off  Cairn 
Point  drove  us  over  the  land  to  Ka-mowitz,  where  we 
built  two  snow  houses.  Only  twenty  below  zero!  What 
a  contrast  to  my  night  here  two  years  before  at  fifty- 
four  below!  I  remember  well  my  entanglement  of 
frozen  traces  and  well-nigh  frozen  fingers.  There  is  a 
certain  kind  of  work  which  one  cannot  do  with  mit- 
tened  fingers,  such  as  repairing  a  harness,  knotting  a 
trace,  or  making  a  whip-lash.  It  is  then  that  one  sings 
familiar  songs  and  wonders  if  "somewhere  the  sun  is 
shining." 

Shortly  after  starting  in  the  morning,  we  narrowly 
escaped  a  bad  accident.  Ah-kom-mo-ding-wa,  my  oldest 
Eskimo,  got  away  first  and  dashed  along  the  ice-foot 
some  ten  feet  above  the  water.  As  he  rounded  the 
curve  of  a  small  bight,  fifty  yards  from  camp,  about  ten 
yards  of  ice-foot,  which  had  been  clinging  to  the  vertical 
face  of  the  cliff,  dropped  into  the  sea  with  a  crash,  leav- 
ing him  fairly  tottering  on  the  very  edge.  My  heart 
was  in  my  mouth  in  fear  for  the  safety  of  him  and  his 
team.  The  old  man  smiled,  waved  his  hand,  and  then 
chuckled  at  our  predicament,  wondering  how  we  would 
get  by.  It  was  certainly  ticklish  work,  where  a  slip 
or  mistake  in  judgment  meant  a  very  cold  bath. 


228      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mab. 

Joining  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  one-half  mile  beyond  on 
the  sea  ice,  we  were  delighted  to  find  a  royal  road  stretch- 
ing across  Smith  Sound  and  apparently  leading  directly 
to  Victoria  Head,  forty  miles  distant.  Five  miles  out 
I  said  good-by  to  Kae-we-ark-sha  and  Tau-ching-wa, 
two  boys  who  had  heli>ed  us  with  our  loads. 

In  1861  Doctor  Hayes  and  his  men  consumed  thirty- 
eight  days  in  crossing  this  stretch  of  ice;  the  answer — 
inexperience  and  poor  judgment.  In  1914  we  crossed 
repeatedly  in  six  hours  by  traveling  on  the  thin  ice  at 
the  edge  of  the  water. 

With  the  head  of  Flagler  Bay  as  my  objective  point, 
I  kept  well  north  for  Victoria  Head,  the  first  day  cover- 
ing about  thirty  miles,  and  camping  in  the  midst  of  a 
maze  of  bear  tracks.  This  was  encouraging,  as  we  were 
depending  upon  the  country  to  supply  us  with  meat 
for  at  least  half  the  time. 

Starting  out  .on  the  24th,  we  could  see  the  termination 
of  our  smooth  white  highway  only  a  few  miles  ahead. 
"A  hard  trip,'*  I  thought  to  myself,  "for  the  rest  of  the 
way."  Imagine  my  surprise  and  delight,  up)on  round- 
ing a  sharp  turn,  to  find  it  continuing  even  broader  and 
better,  and — a  bear  right  in  the  middle  of  it!  The  race 
was  on!  Ninety  leaping  dogs,  eight  bounding  sledges, 
eight  long,  snapping  whips,  a  long,  level  straightaway, 
and  nanooh-suah  (big  bear)  bound  for  the  western  shore! 
Fortunately,  we  differ  vastly  as  to  our  ideas  of  real 
sj>ort.  One  man  strides  a  horse  and  follows  a  pa^k  of 
yelping  hounds  in  pursuit  of  the  red  fox,  and  calls  it 
**the  king  of  sports."  Another  man  strides  a  horse  and 
follows  a  wooden  ball  with  a  mallet,  and  declares  it 
to  be  the  only  game.  The  Eskimo  strides  his  sledge, 
yells  to  his  ten  leaping  dogs,  and  is  in  heaven.    Seal- 


19161  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  2S9 

hunting  is  a  pastime;  polar-bear  hunting  is  sport.  And 
to  see  that  magnificent,  yellowish-white  body,  every 
movement  of  which  denotes  agility  and  strength,  sway- 
ing gently  back  and  forth  on  a  snow-white  i>edestal, 
holding  off  a  pack  of  dogs,  is  one  of  the  sights  of  a 
lifetime.  All  honor  to  the  "tiger  of  the  north,"  every 
inch  a  fighter. 

When  we  blocked  the  door  of  our  snow  house  that 
night  well  to  the  west  of  Cape  Sabine,  our  dogs  were 
rounded  out  with  fresh  meat,  my  Eskimos  were  antici- 
pating a  delicious  supj>er,  and  all  were  happy  with  the 
thought  of  to-morrow's  work.  There  is  a  world-wide 
gap  between  a  full  stomach  and  an  empty  one. 

Thirty  below  to-night,  a  good  day  to-morrow. 

The  next  day,  as  we  dashed  rapidly  along  over  the 
smooth  ice  on  the  south  side  of  Bache  Peninsula,  the 
question  uppermost  in  our  minds  was,  "ShaU  we  get 
seals  at  the  mouth  of  Flagler  Bay?"  "Yes,  we  cer- 
tainly should,"  they  all  declared.  How  did  they  know 
that  there  would  be  a  pool  of  open  water  far  up  at  the 
head  of  a  fiord,  seventy-five  miles  from  the  sea?  They 
drew  their  conclusions  from  a  i>erfect  knowledge  of 
weather  conditions — often  a  matter  of  life  or  death  with 
these  Northern  i>eople.  In  1914  we  found  the  ice  open; 
result,  seals  which  saved  the  lives  of  our  dogs.  In  1915 
it  was  solid  from  shore  to  shore. 

Sure  enough,  as  we  wound  our  way  through  the  Wey- 
precht  Islands  we  soon  descried  the  water  glittering  in 
the  sun  like  a  bed  of  molten  silver.  The  Eskimos 
hitched  their  dogs  securely  a  hundred  yards  distant, 
loaded  the  magazines  of  their  rifles,  carefully  coiled  their 
harpoon-lines,  and  were  off  to  the  edge  of  the  ice,  where 
they  took  up  their  positions,  surrounding  the  pool. 


230       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mar. 

Within  a  minute  a  round  head  with  extremely  large 
eyes  appears  above  the  water.  A  whispered  "Ta-koo!'* 
A  hurried  sit  down  by  Arklio,  a  careful  sighting  along  the 
rifle-barrel,  held  securely  with  elbows  on  the  knees,  a 
sharp  report.  The  head  has  disappeared  beneath  a 
whirl  of  crimson-stained  water.  A  few  inches  of  a 
rounded  back  drifts  to  the  east  with  the  ebb  tide.  The 
Eskimo  grasps  his  harpoon  and  line  and  runs  to  the 
lower  edge  of  the  pool;  then,  and  as  the  body  is  about 
to  disappear  beneath  the  ice,  he  buries  the  ivory  iron- 
tipped  point  deep  into  the  flesh.  The  game  is  on;  we 
have  scored  one.  Twelve  seals  in  almost  as  many 
minutes !  The  boys  harjxjoned  the  dead  from  a  distance 
of  twenty-five  and  thirty  feet.  Here  amid  the  silence 
of  the  great  white  hills  these  fur-clad  figures,  at  ten  be- 
low zero,  laughed  and  joked  and  matched  their  skill  as 
so  many  school-boys  in  the  warm  South.  How  they 
roared  with  laughter  and  gibed  each  other  unmercifully 
when  a  miss  was  made! 

Seal  meat  was  cached  under  the  snow  against  our  re- 
turn in  May.  Possibly  we  would  be  in  extreme  need  of 
it,  and  neck  to  neck  with  time,  in  our  race  with  the 
break-up  of  the  ice  of  Smith  Sound.  Fifteen  miles  a  day 
were  necessary,  come  what  would — strong  winds,  drift- 
ing snows,  thin  ice,  little  food,  sickness,  accidents,  ex- 
treme temperatures.  Thus  far  we  had  covered  nineteen, 
booking  up  extra  miles  for  days  of  enforced  idleness  in 
snow  houses  far  to  the  west.  *. 

On  the  27th,  a  dog  showed  signs  of  "piblock-to,"  a 
strange  disease  rightfully  dreaded  by  every  explorer; 
it  is  a  form  of  rabies,  and  fatal.  Once  it  has  fairly  in- 
vaded a  team,  extermination  is  the  certain  result.  It 
has  thwarted  many  well-laid  plans,  has  sent  many  a 


ESKIMO  KAYAK.      WONDERFULLY  ADAPTED   FOB   THE  PURPOSE    OF   HARPOONING 
WALRUS,  NARWHAL,   AND  SEAL 


WHEN     THE     AH-WA-TA,     THE     INFLATED     SKIN     OF    A     LITTLE     RINGED     SEAL, 

MOVES   THROUGH   THE   WATER    IT    IS   AN    INDICATION   THAT   THE   HARPOON   HAS 

BEEN  DRIVEN  HOME.      IT  IS  ATTACHED    TO    THE  HARPOON  LINE    AND  SUPPORTS 

AND    ALSO    DENOTES    THE    LOCATION    OF   THE   ANIMAL 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  881 

man  back  to  his  winter  quarters  discouraged,  has  turned 
prospective  victory  into  utter  failure.  How  a  dog  suf- 
fers! Restlessness  is  succeeded  by  whining,  yelping, 
bloodshot  eyes,  drooping  lower  jaw,  stupidity.  Every 
dog  within  reach  is  attacked,  and  nearly  every  attack 
is  fatal  within  fifty  days.  Strange  to  say,  the  dog 
craves  the  companionship  of  man,  is  very  affectionate, 
wants  to  be  fondled,  and  seems  more  at  ease  when  re- 
ceiving attention.  I  have  often  seated  myself  beside  a 
dog  fairly  frightful  to  look  upon.  He  is  trembling  with 
the  pain  of  a  dozen  wounds  inflicted  by  his  team-mates, 
his  eyes  are  wild  and  red,  his  lips  frothy  and  bloody. 
A  gentle  stroking  of  the  head  and  the  whining  ceases, 
the  eyes  close,  the  dog  sleeps.  Is  there  no  help?  The 
Eskimo  points  to  See-oog-ly  (Arcturus),  sweeps  his 
arm  half-way  about  the  heavens,  and  declares,  "He  will 
die  when  the  star  reaches  that  point."  The  white  man 
adds,  "He  will  die  now  with  the  bullet,  rather  than 
suffer  for  that  length  of  time." 

The  Flagler  Pass  was  now  before  us,  with  its  uncer- 
tain conditions  from  year  to  year.  In  1899  Sverdrup 
found  the  valley  bare  of  snow  and  rough  with  rocks, 
which  smashed  and  wore  the  sledges,  necessitating  un- 
loading and  packing  everything  to  his  farthest  west. 
This  year  we  had  had  an  unusual  amount  of  snow,  which 
was  encouraging  for  the  crossing  of  EUesmere  Land. 
In  nine  hours  we  reached  the  summit  of  the  divide. 
Nothing  escai>ed  the  sharp  eyes  of  my  Eskimo  boys — 
there  at  the  base  of  that  boulder  Doctor  Cook  left  a 
cache;  here  Whitney  killed  a  musk-ox;  around  the 
next  turn  thirty  hare  were  seen  feeding  four  years 
ago — such  were  the  comments  as  our  sledges  wound 
their  way  steadily  up  and  on  through  that  magnificent 


282      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH  [Mah. 

valley,  the  old  Eskimo  migration  pass  of  centuries 
ago. 

A  strong  northeast  wind,  heavy  drift,  and  eighteen 
below  had  no  effect  whatever  up)on  the  cheerful  spirits 
of  my  men.  The  snow  blocks  were  quickly  cut  from  a 
sloping  bank  amid  laughter,  jest,  and  banter.  E-took- 
a-shoo  was  at  his  best  as  he  skilfully  molded  block  after 
block  into  place.  A  slice  off  the  end  to  bevel  it,  a  ghtter 
of  the  knife  beneath  to  shai>e  it,  a  thump  with  the  heel 
of  the  hand  to  set  it,  and  presto! — a  palace.  ** Timor 
kee-zar  ("All  through — ^finished!")  is  the  happy  call 
from  the  inside  of  the  white  dome  at  the  end  of  the  day. 
And  now  for  real  comfort!  The  dogs  are  fed  and  se- 
curely fastened  for  the  night;  the  sledges  are  unpacked; 
all  the  skins  are  whipi>ed  and  beaten  thoroughly  with  the 
snow-beater,  a  constant  and  indispensable  companion. 

Ice  is  always  seciu*ed  for  our  tea,  if  possible;  other- 
wise, clean  snow  will  answer  the  purpose.  The  snow 
bed  is  buried  deep  with  furs,  on  top  of  which  are  placed 
four  light  caribou  sleeping-bags.  The  comfort  and  cozi- 
ness  of  an  eleven-j)ound  caribou  bag!  At  fifty-five  be- 
low zero,  I  have  stripped  naked  and  plunged  into  one 
of  these  bags,  where  I  have  found  warmth  and  com- 
fort. The  Primus  stove  is  hghted,  the  door  is  blocked, 
and  the  day's  discomforts  are  forgotten. 

The  29th  was  spent  in  sledging  our  loads  to  the  back 
of  the  EUesmere  Land  ice-cap  in  the  face  of  a  heavy 
wind  and  drift,  which  heli>ed  us,  however,  on  the  r^um, 
fairly  blowing  us  down  into  camp  from  the  edge  of  the 
glacier,  the  dogs  racing  back  with  empty  sledges. 

To  my  surprise,  at  five  in  the  morning  there  was  a 
strange  voice  at  the  door,  which  we  soon  recognized  as 
that  of  Ak-f>ood-a-shah-o.    He  had  reached  Etah  two 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  9SS 

days  after  we  left;  then  jbe  had  rested  his  dogs  two  days, 
and  followed  us,  covering  150  miles  in  three  marches. 
I  thought  we  were  doing  well  to  reach  this  p>oint  in  seven. 
This  is  an  illustration  of  what  good  dogs  can  do.  I  was 
even  more  surprised  for  him  to  hand  me  a  small  lens, 
one-quarter  inch  in  diameter,  which  I  had  lost  on  the 
trail  some  forty  miles  back.  Let  there  be  no  doubt  about 
the  quality  of  an  Eskimo's  eyes. 

After  two  hours*  sleep  he  was  ready  to  leave  with  us 
at  ten  o'clock.  Up  the  glacier  the  going  was  good,  the 
snow  hard,  and  no  wind.  Coming  down,  however,  we 
caught  the  very  devil !  As  we  descended  the  wind  und 
drift  increased,  until  finally  it  was  a  smother,  blinding 
the  dogs  and  driving  into  our  clothes.  We  had  per- 
spired freely  going  up,  and  now  we  were  regular  snow- 
balls. It  was  only  by  exercising  vigorously  that  we 
could  get  warm  with  the  thermometer  at  forty  below 
zero. 

In  the  bed  of  what  looks  like  an  old  lake  we  made 
tea  and  waited  for  Panikpa.  Finally  we  gave  him  up, 
and  were  about  to  start  on  when  he  and  his  team  of 
pups  came  down  over  the  hill. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Eskimos  amused  themselves 
by  cutting  figures  of  animals  out  of  the  snow,  and  the 
likenesses  were  remarkably  good. 

A  short  cHmb  from  here  to  the  summit  of  a  hill  to 
the  west,  and  away  we  went  down  into  Bay  Fiord,  over 
rocks,  sand,  boulders,  and  deep  snow.  There  were  many 
mix-ups  and  loud  curses  as  two  teams  rushed  together. 
Two  of  my  traces  were  cut  under  the  runners,  and  three 
of  my  dogs  ran  free,  the  snap-hooks  being  worthless. 
Arklio  was  compelled  to  slip  his  best  dog,  as  she  had 
shown  symptoms  of  piblock-to  early  in  the  day.    We 


234     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

never  saw  her  again.  In  the  river  bottom,  we  laborious- 
ly dragged  and  pushed  our  sledges  over  jagged  rocks  and 
stones  hidden  under  a  thin  cover  of  snow,  ruining  our 
runners  and  tiring  out  the  dogs. 

As  we  drove  into  Ekblaw  camp  of  two  years  before, 
we  detected  signs  of  musk-oxen.  The  two  boys  with  me 
were  so  excited  that  they  wanted  to  start  off  immedi- 
ately, loads  and  all.  When  the  others  arrived,  I  told 
five  of  them  to  throw  off  their  loads  and  follow  the 
tracks,  while  two  would  remain  with  me  to  build  the 
igloo.  They  drove  east  into  a  small  fiord,  but  in 
about  half  an  hour  came  tearing  almost  through  our 
camp,  driving  west  and  following  the  trail  down  Bay 
Fiord. 

By  this  time  it  was  two  o'clock  of  the  31st.  At  four, 
Koo-la-ting-wa  was  back  after  a  stove  and  to  tell  us  that 
they  had  killed  nine  musk-oxen.  With  a  keen  appetite 
for  fresh  tenderloins,  we  were  up  at  eight  and  dashing 
down  the  fiord  in  search  of  the  igloo  of  the  hunting-party. 
At  forty-four  below,  it  was  easily  detected  at  least  a 
mile  away  by  the  white  vapor  rising  from  the  top. 

Three  more  musk-oxen  the  next  day,  and  tracks  of  a 
p>olar  bear  kept  the  tails  of  our  dogs  tightly  curled  and 
the  men  ever  on  the  alert.  We  were  soon  hot  on  the 
trail  of  the  biggest  bunch  of  activity  I  have  ever  en- 
countered. After  following  her  for  five  miles  through 
the  rough  ice,  we  turned  shoreward  to  find  that  she 
had  gone  into  the  country,  then  up  over  a  higirhill, 
across  a  ravine,  then  up  another  hill. 

We  slipj>ed  our  dogs,  which  were  soon  out  of  sight 
and  sound.  Noo-ka-ping-wa  and  I  returned  to  the 
sledges;  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  went  on.  Some  of  our 
dogs  came  back,  so  we  harnessed  up,  placed  Ak-kom- 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  235 

mo-ding-wa*s  sledge  on  top  of  Noo-ka-ping-wa's,  and 
drove  on  to  meet  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa,  who  was  return- 
ing on  another  sledge  to  tell  us  that  the  bear  had  returned 
to  the  sea  ice  and  had  been  shot  by  E-took-a-shoo;  the 
latter,  driving  up  the  coast,  had  seen  her  coming  down 
the  hill  to  meet  him. 

I  quote  from  my  field  Journal: 

April  3,  1916,  Monday. — I  am  wondering  how  long  this  is  to  con- 
tinue— perfect  weather  and  fresh  meat  every  day.  A  bear,  two 
musk-oxen,  and  a  hare  to-day. 

If  I  live  to  be  a  hundred,  I  shall  never  see  a  better  scrap  with 
a  bear  than  we  had  to-day.  About  an  hour  after  turning  into  Eureka 
Sound,  we  saw  a  bear  sitting  at  a  seal-hole,  I  should  say  one  mile 
from  shore.  She  did  not  see  us  coming  until  we  were  about  150 
yards  away.  The  dogs  were  then  at  full  gallop,  and  every  Eskimo 
shouting  at  the  top  of  his  voice. 

She  jumped  to  her  feet,  turned  her  black  muzzle  toward  us, 
stretched  out  her  neck,  and  sniflFed  the  air.  Then  she  decided  to 
leave,  which  she  did  in  jumps  resembling  the  skipping  of  a  gas- 
engine;  it  was  a  cross  between  a  gallop  and  a  trot.  Her  gait  would 
have  driven  a  good  horseman  to  drink.  A  small  pup  of  Noo-ka- 
ping-wa's  was  right  at  her  hindquarters,  taking  a  nip  whenever  she 
touched  the  ice. 

I  was  second  in  the  chase,  my  dogs  going  at  full  si)eed.  I  turned 
to  get  my  camera  out  of  the  case,  and  when  I  looked  again  I  had 
passed  Noo-ka-ping-wa  and  was  within  ten  yards  of  the  bear.  Just 
then  she  turned.  My  dogs  split,  some  going  one  side  of  her  and 
some  the  other,  with  the  result  that  I  scooped  her  up  with  my  sledge. 
When  I  reaUzed  that  she  was  "coming  aboard"  I  deserted  my  ship 
and  ran  out  to  one  side.  In  a  few  seconds  she  was  fighting  for  her 
life  against  ninety  dogs.  What  a  moving  picture  that  would  have 
made!     They  fairly  buried  her. 

I  was  running  everywhere,  trying  to  focus  my  camera  and  yelling 
to  the  Eskimos  to  shoot  to  save  the  dogs,  which  we  could  hear  howl- 
ing with  pain.  To  my  surprise,  there  was  not.  a  rifle  in  sight.  I 
yelled  for  Arklio  to  get  his  revolver,  a  .45.  By  this  time  the  circus 
had  started  south,  with  me  hanging  to  the  back  of  my  sledge  and 
threatening  my  dogs  in  all  kinds  of  language  if  they  didn't  stop; 
but  that  was  the  last  thing  they  thought  of  doing. 

In  the  mean  time  the  Eskimos  were  spending  their  time  yelling 

16 


236     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

and  snapping  their  whips.  Noo-ka-ping-wa  was  brandishing  a 
sealing-iron,  and  finally  threw  it  into  the  body.  Seeing  Ak-kom- 
mo-ding-wa  hopping  around  with  a  Winchester  .35,  full-cocked,  I 
grabbed  it  out  of  his  hand,  thrust  the  muzzle  down  between  the 
dogs,  and  pulled  the  trigger.     This  ended  the  scrap. 

Just  before  sighting  the  bear  we  had  seen  two  musk-oxen  to  the 
south  of  us  on  a  hillside.  Therefore  I  decided  to  drive  down,  skin 
our  bear  there,  build  an  igloo,  and  send  two  of  the  men  after  them. 
In  two  hours  they  were  back  with  two  very  old  males.  One  of  these, 
because  of  a  peculiar  broken  horn,  I  have  skinned  for  moimting. 

Our  game  list  thus  far  reads:  Fourteen  musk-oxen,  thirteen  seals, 
three  bears,  and  twelve  hare. 

From  our  igloo  on  the  morning  of  April  4tli  I  could 
see  a  distant  blue  headland  far  down  on  the  western 
side  of  Eureka  Sound.  I  hoped  that  we  could  make  it. 
At  eight  that  evening,  when  we  had  about  given  up 
bears  and  musk-oxen,  and  were  sitting  on  our  sledges, 
holding  our  noses  in  our  hands,  at  forty  below  zero, 
E-took-a-shoo  sighted  a  bear,  and  away  we  went,  for- 
getting all  about  the  cold.  This  bear  must  have  been 
the  twin  sister  of  the  one  we  shot  the  day  before.  She 
acted  exactly  like  her,  and  had  the  same  kind  of  mix-up 
with  the  dogs.  My  little  pup,  Natu,  who  was  running 
loose  ahead  of  the  sledge,  bravely  attacked  the  bear's 
hindquarters.  She  turned  and  gave  him  such  a  slap 
with  her  great  paw  that  he  rolled  over  and  over  for  a 
distance  of  twenty  feet.  Every  available  weapon  was 
used  in  the  fight — ^killing-irons,  revolvers,  automatic 
rifles,  and  dogs.  I  have  never  seen  dogs  so  savage. 
They  were  fairly  thirsting  for  blood.  Only  a  vigorous 
application  of  the  long  whips  kept  them  from  tearing 
the  skin  to  pieces. 

After  the  fight  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  arrived  with  his 
face  buried  in  his  mitten,  exclaiming  that  he  had  frozen 
his  nose.     The  Eskimos  immediately  all  grabbed  theirs. 


19161  TO  KING   CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  237 

and  mumbled  through  their  mittens  that  mine  was  as 
white  as  snow.  We  were  all  frost-bitten  and  didn't 
know  it. 

In  an  hour  we  were  on  the  trail  again,  having  fed  the 
meat  to  the  dogs.  We  were  tired  and  cold,  but  kept 
plugging  ahead  until  we  had  finished  our  fifty  miles, 
arriving  at  Bjornesundet.  To  my  astonishment,  after 
finishing  our  igloo,  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  drove  off  on 
the  trail  of  another  bear — excellent  evidence  of  an  Eski- 
mo's untiring  activity. 

I  now  decided  to  send  my  first  supporting  party  back 
to  Etah  with  loads  of  musk-ox  and  bear  skins.  Old 
Panikpa  was  jxjorly  clothed  and  suffering  from  the  cold, 
his  team  of  pups  all  in.  However,  he  had  done  his  best, 
had  never  complained,  and  was  still  willing  to  go  on 
if  I  desired  it.  He  and  Koo-la-ting-wa  returned  in  the 
morning,  with  nothing  whatever  on  their  sledges  for 
their  dogs.  They  were  to  depend  upon  the  game  re- 
sources of  the  country. 

Leaving  our  igloo  in  the  morning,  we  had  a  fijie  run 
of  about  five  miles  over  good  ice  along  the  island  shore. 
We  then  proceeded  diagonally  across  Ulvef  jorden  toward 
a  valley  which  appeared  as  though  it  might  suppK)rt  a 
herd  of  musk-oxen,  but  we  failed  to  see  anything. 
Fresh  bear  tracks  along  the  shore,  with  feet  bunched, 
showing  full  speed,  revealed  traces  of  a  bear  seen  by 
the  boys  from  the  last  camp  the  day  before.  The  dogs 
caught  the  scent  and  went  south  rapidly  to  a  point 
where  we  foimd  tracks  of  musk-oxen  and  could  see 
through  the  glasses  the  hills  dotted  with  Arctic  hare. 
Within  a  few  minutes  the  boys  secured  five  and  one 
ptarmigan. 

We  celebrated  April  6th,  the  date  of  the  discovery  of 


238     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

the  Pole,  by  having  a  cup  of  condensed  coffee,  a  great 
delicacy  in  the  field. 

Strange  to  say,  although  going  true  west  along  the 
southern  shore  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land,  our  compass 
course  was  about  sixty  degrees  east.  In  other  words, 
to  go  west  we  headed  by  compass  northeast  by  east, 
one-quarter  east.  In  a  few  days  more  we  would  be 
heading  exactly  east  to  go  west.  This  reminds  me  of 
the  old  man's  clock,  of  which  he  remarked,  "When  she 
strikes  three  and  the  hands  point  to  ten  in  the  morning, 
I  know  she  is  quarter  past  five  in  the  afternoon." 

From  the  camp  of  April  7th  I  could  see  the  loom  of 
North  Cornwall  on  the  western  horizon,  bearing  about 
thirteen  degrees  east  of  magnetic  north. 

All  anxiety  over  my  meat-supply  was  relieved  on  the 
8th,  when  the  men  returned  to  camp,  after  a  fourteen- 
hour  hunt,  with  thirteen  musk-oxen;  sledges  piled  high 
with  rich  red  meat  and  thick  warm  skins.  A  hard  bear- 
fight  here  resulted  in  the  loss  of  Arklio's  king-dog  and 
the  severe  wounding  of  one  of  E-took-a-shoo's.  We  were 
also  comi>elled  to  shoot  one  with  rabies,  the  fifth  since 
leaving  Etah. 

Scarcely  a  mile  from  Musk-Ox  Camp  and  another 
bear  suddenly  apj>eared  in  front  of  us.  With  three  dead 
dogs  behind  us  and  one  riding,  unable  to  walk,  we  did 
not  need  to  be  admonished  to  "hold  our  horses."  Our 
respect  for  the  fighting  qualities  of  this  western  bear 
was  steadily  increasing.  Arklio  wounded  him  from  Bis 
sledge,  going  at  full  speed,  before  the  dogs  could  reach 
him.  We  buried  the  meat  and  skin  on  the  trail  for  our 
return. 

All  along  the  southern  shore  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land 
the  snow  was  marked  with  tracks  of  foxes,  ptarmigan. 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  239 

and  lemming.  We  found  lumps  of  bituminous  coal, 
apparently  of  good  quality,  in  every  river-bed. 

A  short  march  on  the  10th  brought  us  to  Cape  South- 
west of  Axel  Heiberg  Land.  We  had  covered  345  miles, 
at  an  average  of  seventeen  miles  a  day.  Our  dogs,  the 
all-important  items  of  our  equipment,  were  still  in  good 
condition,  thanks  to  musk-oxen  and  bears.  Thus  far 
we  had  lost  six,  one  tossed  by  musk-oxen,  two  chewed 
and  clawed  by  bears,  and  three  from  rabies.  My  men 
were  happy  and  eager  to  proceed. 

I  could  not  but  help  contrast  my  condition  with  that 
of  exactly  two  years  before,  when  I  reached  the  northern 
end  of  this  same  land.  With  clothes  driven  full  of  snow 
from  facing  a  bitter  wind  all  day,  we  dug  our  way  into 
a  snowbank  and  shivered,  and  finally  slept  from  sheer 
weariness — the  Peary  method,  no  sleeping-bags. 

Tracks  of  musk-oxen  along  the  ice-foot  prompted 
Ak-pood-a-shah-o  to  hitch  up  his  dogs  and  start  for 
meat,  following  the  building  of  the  best  snow  house  I 
have  ever  slept  in.  It  was  so  large — thirteen  feet  six 
inches  in  diameter — that  the  roof  began  to  sag  within 
twenty-four  hours. 

At  ten- thirty  in  the  evening,  right  under  the  blazing 
sun  low  in  the  north,  we  saw  the  sledge  coming,  and 
heard  Noo-ka-ping-wa,  who  had  gone  to  meet  it,  shout: 
" Mart-loo-ner  ("Two!").  Laughing  and  shouting,  we 
escorted  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  into  camp,  as  if  he  were  a 
victorious  general  returning  from  the  front.  The  dogs 
were  fed  to  the  limit.  And  then  we  feasted  on  raw 
frozen  brains  and  delicious  marrow  from  the  cracked  leg- 
bones.  What  gluttons  we  were!  "Eat  it  all;  clean  it 
up.  More  can  be  obtained  to-morrow,'*  illustrates  the 
incurable  optimism  of  the  Eskimo.     But  to-morrow  we 


240     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Apbii. 

failed,  hunt  as  hard  as  we  could.  Tracks  everywhere, 
but  not  a  musk-ox  could  be  found. 

My  older  two  men,  Ak-p>ood-a-shah-o  and  Ak-kom- 
mo-ding-wa,  were  sent  back  from  this  point.  The  former 
had  tears  in  his  eyes,  jx)or  fellow.  He  wished  to  go  the 
whole  way,  and  I  wanted  him  to  go,  but  I  was  afraid 
his  wife  was  without  meat  and  even  without  an  igloo.  I 
waved  to  them  as  we  headed  west,  over  an  apparently 
limitless  field  of  ice,  with  Amund  Ringnes  Island  as  our 
objective  point.  Old  Torngak  had  his  eyes  on  us,  send- 
ing a  cold  wind  and  a  drift  which  obscured  everything 
but  our  dogs.  A  good  hard  surface  was  soon  succeeded 
by  a  slumpy  crust,  tiring  the  dogs  and  presenting  a  hard 
footing  for  us,  walking  in  the  rear  of  the  sledges.  For 
eight  hours  and  forty  minutes  we  traveled,  with  only 
two  stops  of  ten  minutes  each  to  untangle  our  traces. 
Clearing  weather  enabled  me  in  the  evening  to  get 
bearings  of  North  Cornwall,  a  high  mountain  on  Amund 
Ringnes  Island,  and  prominent  points  of  Axel  Heiberg 
Island. 

I  quote  from  my  field  journal: 

April  IStky  Twenty-third  day. — Just  eight  hours  from  our  igloo  out 
on  the  ice,  a  total  of  sixteen  hours  and  forty  minutes  from  Cape 
Southwest.  I  should  estimate  our  rate  to  be  about  three  and  one- 
quarter  miles  an  hour.  Allowing  fifteen  minutes  each  for  four  stops 
to  untangle  traces,  our  actual  time  was  fifteen  hours  and  forty 
minutes.  That  makes  the  distance  fifty  and  eight-tenths  miles. 
To  save  our  dogs,  we  have  walked  half  of  this,  at  least. 

Yesterday  afternoon  a  land  appeared  northwest  of  us  which  did 
not  correspond  with  anything  on  the  map.  I  obtained  a  bearing  of 
it  of  79°  east.  I  thought  that  possibly,  as  we  went  on,  it  might  fit 
in  somewhere,  but  to-day  it  is  as  much  of  a  mystery  as  ever.  My 
Eskimos  declared  it  to  be  Cape  Ludvig,  and  that  we  had  missed  and 
passed  what  we  headed  for.  Calculating  mentally  the  local  apparent 
time,  and  taking  a  bearing  of  the  sim,  I  told  them  we  were  all  right 
and  that  the  new  land  was  not  on  the  map. 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  241 

I  could  see  that  they  were  incredulous.  As  we  worked  west, 
however,  it  soon  opened  out  by  Amund  Ringnes  Island,  proving 
itself  to  be  a  long,  narrow  island  about  fifty  feet  above  the  surface 
of  the  ice,  I  should  judge.  We  find  here  along  the  shore  tracks  of 
caribou.  To-morrow  we  shall  stop  and  try  for  game  to  save  our 
pemmican.  We  were  obliged  to  feed  yesterday  and  to-day,  which 
cuts  us  down  twenty  pounds  each. 

Temp)erature  — 23°  at  eight  o'clock. 

Having  fed  on  pemmican  for  two  days,  I  was  a  little 
concerned  about  the  game-supply  on  Amund  Ringnes 
Island,  realizing  that  the  extent  of  my  work  dei>ended 
upon  good  fortune  in  this  particular.  My  fears  were 
set  aside,  however,  when  we  sighted  a  bear  with  two 
cubs  far  out  on  the  ice  of  Hendrickson  Sound.  They 
had  heard  us  as  we  rounded  the  point  to  the  east,  con- 
sequently they  had  a  good  start.  Our  attention  was 
first  called  to  a  streak  of  blood  on  the  snow;  then  we 
saw  the  demolished  seal  igloo,  and  finally  the  carcass. 
Arklio,  with  the  field-glasses,  made  out  the  bears  headed 
at  full  speed  for  North  Cornwall. 

Hastily  we  threw  everything  from  our  sledges  and 
whipped  up  the  dogs.  In  the  mean  time,  Noo-ka-ping- 
wa's  team  had  left  without  him,  heading  west  along 
the  shore,  and  he  after  them,  calling  for  them  to  stop. 
Gradually  they  headed  offshore,  and  he  was  soon  in 
the  chase  with  us.  And  it  was  a  chase!  For  five  miles 
we  went  as  fast  as  I  have  ever  been  on  a  sledge.  My 
young  dog,  Pee-see-a,  fell,  and  in  a  second  was  being 
crushed  under  the  bows  of  my  leaping  sledge.  Creeping 
forward,  I  managed  to  get  a  grip  on  his  collar  and  yank 
him  free. 

The  mother  bear,  with  two  little  ones  by  her  side, 
could  now  be  seen  plainly.  She  stopped  twice  and 
started  back  as  if  determined  to  defend  them,  but  the 


242     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

sight  of  forty  leaping  dogs  with  mouths  open  robbed 
her  of  her  courage  and  she  went  on. 

Noo-ka-ping-wa  sHpped  his  dogs  from  the  sledge  to 
overtake  and  round  her  up.  Vigorously  plying  his 
twenty-six-foot  whip  in  front  of  our  leaping  dogs,  he 
yelled  for  E-took-a-shoo  and  me  to  run  on  with  rifle 
and  camera.  Scarcely  had  I  gained  a  vantage-spot  when 
E-took-a-shoo's  team,  excited  beyond  control,  swept  by 
with  a  rush  of  whirring  legs  and  bounding  sledge,  fol- 
lowed by  Arklio's  ten  blacks  with  flying  traces. 

In  the  midst  of  rifle-shots  and  yelping  dogs  I  de- 
tected an  unfamiliar  sound  of  pain — the  cry  of  a  baby 
bear.  Hurling  myself  upK)n  three  dogs,  I  wrenched  the 
fluffy  white  ball  out  of  their  mouths  and  held  it  high 
above  my  head  out  of  the  reach  of  the  leaping  dogs.  The 
little  fellow,  not  appreciating  the  timely  help  of  his 
rescuer,  buried  his  sharp  white  teeth  deep  in  my  wrist. 
Gradually  he  became  more  tractable,  sniffed  of  my  bear- 
skin pants,  and  wondered  if  his  mother  were  still  on  her 
hind  legs. 

In  the  mean  time  Arklio  had  shot  the  bear  and  Noo- 
ka-ping-wa  had  returned  with  the  other  cub  and  with 
a  bleeding  lip;  as  he  clasped  the  cub  to  his  breast  to 
protect  it  from  the  dogs,  it  had  grabbed  him  by  the 
mouth.  Both  cubs  were  now  crying  for  all  the  world 
like  children  with  the  croup  and  would  not  be  comforted. 
We  placed  them  up>on  the  dead  mother  and  they  ceased 
whining  at  once  and  began  to  suck  her  breasts.  In- 
teresting to  note,  they  were  now  no  longer  afraid  of  us, 
knowing  that  if  their  mother  did  not  protest  it  must  be 
all  right.  We  lashed  her  to  my  sledge,  placed  the  cubs 
on  the  body,  and  drove  to  land  in  search  of  our  loads. 

Our  camp  that  night  was  on  a  small  island  not  on 


AL-NING-WA,    THE    WIFE    OF    ARKLIO 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  243 

the  map,  one  mile  off  the  southern  shore  of  Amund 
Ringnes  Island,  and  unique  as  to  its  position,  being 
practically  midway  between  the  Magnetic  and  North 
Poles  of  the  earth.  Theoretically,  the  compass  varia- 
tions here  should  be  the  extreme  180°;  north  should  be 
south,  and  east  west.  "As  true  as  the  needle  to  the 
Pole"  is  but  an  empty  phrase.  Actually  following  such 
an  injunction,  no  man  could  be  more  fickle,  more  im- 
trustworthy,  more  uncertain  in  his  purpose  in  life,  or 
more  devious  in  his  wanderings. 

The  meridians  here  are  so  numerous  that  one  could 
easily  imagine  our  white  way  as  being  roughened  with 
ribs  leading  to  that  lone  sp>ot  at  the  apex  of  the  earth. 
"What  explorer  was  it  who,  approaching  the  Pole,  dis- 
covered, to  his  astonishment,  that  his  snow-shoes  were 
jammed  between  the  meridians?  Discouraging,  after 
traveling  so  far  and  with  the  goal  in  sight! 

Upi)ermost  in  one's  mind  in  the  North  is  the  all-im- 
portant question,  "Have  we  enough  to  eat?"  I  had 
depended  ujwn  these  vast  snow-covered  trails  for  rich 
red  meat,  strength  and  energy  to  my  dogs,  and  success 
to  my  plans.  Apparently  it  was  a  dead  world,  a  world 
at  rest  beneath  its  mantle  of  snow  and  ice,  all  animal 
and  vegetable  life  swept  away;  so,  at  least,  it  seemed  to 
be  from  our  camp  of  April  15th,  as  I  awaited  the  reports 
of  my  three  Eskimo  boys  who  had  gone  back  into  the 
hills.  All  returned  empty-handed  late  in  the  afternoon, 
but  they  reported  traces  of  caribou,  ptarmigan,  and 
hare — somewhat  encouraging. 

At  nine-thirty  the  excited  yelps  of  our  dogs  notified 
us  of  the  arrival  of  visitors,  two  large  white  wolves. 
The  dogs  were  frantic  in  their  demonstrations  for  a  more 
intimate  acquaintance.     E-took-a-shoo's  team,  the  most 


244     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

vociferous,  could  contain  themselves  no  longer;  they 
leaped  as  a  solid  body,  tearing  out  their  fastening.  The 
wolves  took  to  their  heels,  bounding  lightly  over  the 
sea  ice  to  North  Cornwall,  easily  outstripping  their 
more  cumbersome  cousins. 

Before  leaving  this  camp  we  blocked  up  carefully 
the  door  of  the  igloo  containing  the  skin  of  the  mother 
bear  and  the  skins  of  the  two  cubs,  which  I  concealed 
carefully  in  the  canvas  cover  of  my  blanket  bag,  an- 
ticipating jwssible  visitors. 

As  we  left  this  camp  on  the  16th,  it  was  very  evident 
to  me  that  Pee-see-a,  my  pet  dog,  who  had  been  crushed 
under  the  bows  of  my  sledge  two  days  before,  was  suffer- 
ing intensely.  I  slipped  him  from  harness,  allowing  him 
to  follow  at  his  ease,  hoping  that  by  night  he  would 
be  stronger  and  better.  Long  after  we  had  made  camp 
in  Hassel  Sound  I  saw  him  slowly  making  his  way  among 
the  ice  hummocks  toward  our  igloo.  I  went  back  on 
the  trail  to  meet  him.  He  came  up,  placed  his  head 
and  paws  wearily  in  my  lap,  and  said,  as  plainly  as  a  dog 
could,  "I  am  all  in."  Together  we  walked  slowly 
back  to  camp,  our  last  bit  of  companionship.  He  had 
followed  me  faithfully  almost  from  the  time  when  his 
brown  eyes  first  saw  light;  and  now  he  was  to  go  alone, 
on  the  silent  trail,  far  from  the  sound  of  snapping  dog- 
whips  and  yelling  Eskimos,  to  a  land  where  loads  are 
light  and  the  going  is  smooth.  The  harness  dangling 
from  my  sledge  was  a  constant  reminder  that  I^had 
lost  a  good  friend — the  first  on  the  trail  after  several 
thousand  miles  of  travel. 

On  the  17th  we  reached  the  southern  shore  of  Ellef 
Ringnes  Island.  The  dogs  had  now  traveled  some  468 
miles.    Day  after  day  since  leaving  home  their  little 


1916]  TO  KING  CHRISTIAN  ISLAND  245 

legs  had  reeled  off  their  seventeen  miles.  A  few  were 
sick,  and  with  loose  trace  were  endeavoring  to  keep  their 
places  in  the  team.  All  were  tired  and  needed  strength- 
restoring  meat.  One  bear  alone  since  leaving  Cape 
Southwest  of  Axel  Heiberg  Land  was  but  a  mouthful 
for  forty  hard-working  dogs. 

April  18th  was  given  over  to  a  careful  searching  for 
game  among  the  hills  of  Ellef  Ringnes  Island.  Not  a 
thing  but  the  tracks  of  a  lemming.  Was  game  failing 
us  at  the  very  time  when  we  needed  it  most?  At  five 
o'clock  the  haze  which  so  often  accompanies  a  low  tem- 
perature ( — 33°  F.)  lifted  from  the  ice,  revealing  on  the 
distant  horizon  King  Christian  Island,  our  objective 
point.  On  the  19th,  six  hours  and  a  quarter's  travel 
brought  us  to  the  low  shore  which  stretched  back  into  the 
interior  culminating  in  peaks  some  2,000  feet  in  height. 

We  eagerly  scanned  the  shore  and  hills  for  tracks  of 
game,  far  more  important  to  us  than  a  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  physical  characteristics  of  the  country. 
With  food  we  could  do  everything  or  anything;  if  it 
failed,  nothing. 


xn 

BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND 

npHE  Demon  of  the  North  jealously  guards  his  secrets; 
-■•  thus  it  has  ever  been.  The  ponderous  doors  which 
guard  and  encircle  his  domain  are  the  massive,  ever- 
stretching,  relentless  ice-fields  which  grip  and  grind  and 
crush  the  hearts  of  ships,  thwarting  the  best-laid  plans 
of  men. 

The  weapons  which  assail  the  explorer  are  extreme 
temperatures,  heavy  snows,  drift,  bitter  winds,  treach- 
erous thin  ice,  high-pressure  ridges;  and  often  the  result 
is  starvation  diet,  sickness,  death.  Through  the  cen- 
turies man  has  struggled  ever  on  and  out  over  No  Man's 
Land,  rushing  the  thin  ice  of  leads,  scaling  towering 
ice-caps,  staggering  along  uncharted  coasts,  and  wearily 
planting  his  flag  uf>on  hitherto  unknown  truths,  glorying 
in  his  struggle  against  the  elements  for  the  accumula- 
tion of  knowledge. 

Only  a  few  bits  remain  of  the  world's  uncharted 
regions.  This  was  one  of  them — a  survey  of  the  imex- 
plored  shores  of  King  Christian  Island.  *' Ah-no-uk- 
suah!  PiU-sucJc-suah-taur  ("  Much  wind  and  also  heavy 
drift!")  was  my  morning  greeting.  Why  couldn't  the 
Fates  have  been  kinder.'*  Let  such  weather  come  at  any 
time  but  this,  when  food  was  low  and  dogs  hungry. 


1916]        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  247 

The  three  Eskimo  boys,  cheerful  as  usual,  put  on  their 
heavy  caribou  coats  and  disappeared  into  the  swirling 
drift  in  search  of  hare,  caribou,  or  musk-oxen.  Within 
a  few  hours  they  were  back,  white  with  snow  and  nearly 
blind  with  drift.    Alas!   they  were  empty-handed! 

April  21st  was  a  continuation  of  the  20th — wind  and 
heavy  drift.  Reluctantly  I  ordered  thirty-nine  pounds 
of  the  precious  pemmican  fed  to  the  dogs.  There  was 
nothing  to  do  but  forget  my  hopes  and  ambitions,  hum, 
sing,  tell  stories,  and  enjoy  my  Eskimo  companions. 
I  got  out  the  cards,  made  the  boys  a  checker-board,  and 
played  the  harmonica  until  my  mouth  was  sore.  One 
incident  of  the  day  caused  me  considerable  anxiety. 
Arklio  was  seated  beside  me  on  the  bed  platform  re- 
pairing a  dog  harness.  Inserting  the  keen-edge  blade 
of  his  pocket-knife  in  a  loop,  he  endeavored  to  pull  it 
through  by  main  strength.  The  loop  suddenly  burst, 
releasing  the  knife,  which  buried  itself  deeply  in  his  face 
between  the  inner  comer  of  the  left  eye  and  his  nose. 
With  a  whispered  "A-tew!"  he  pulled  it  out  and  blinked 
at  me  through  the  flowing  blood.  "His  eye  is  gone!" 
was  my  first  thought,  at  the  same  time  fearing  that  the 
blade  had  penetrated  the  thin  cavity  waU  to  the  brain. 
But  with  a  small  strip  of  adhesive  Arklio  was  quickly  as 
good  as  new. 

By  noon  of  the  22d  I  had  made  my  decision;  I  would 
return  east  that  day,  following  a  round  of  angles  from 
the  hills  and  a  run  down  the  coast  south.  We  built  a 
cairn,  inclosed  a  record  of  our  visit,  took  sights  with  the 
sextant  for  longitude,  latitude,  and  azimuth,  and  broke 
camp.  Within  a  half -hour  we  were  heading  home  in  a 
heavy  snowstorm.  What  kaleidoscopic  changes  we  ex- 
perience in  the  Northland!    How  uncertain  are  the  con- 


848    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [April 

ditions  there!  As  luck  would  have  it,  when  within  a 
mile  of  our  Ellef  Ringnes  Island  camp  a  bear  stalked 
out  from  behind  a  berg  and  walked  directly  toward  us. 
Perhaps  he  was  hungry,  too.  In  such  an  emergency,  the 
Eskimo's  instinctive  thought  is  his  rifle;  mine  the 
camera.  In  an  instant  both  were  leveled  out  over  the 
backs  of  our  leaping  dogs.  As  the  bear  turned,  evidently 
mystified  by  our  strange  appearance,  Noo-ka-ping-wa 
popped  him  from  his  sledge  and  released  his  dogs. 
Both  disappeared  into  a  large  hole  between  the  base  of  a 
berg  and  a  snowbank.  Instantly  my  dogs  plunged  over 
the  bank,  and  as  my  sledge  jwised  on  the  very  brink, 
giving  me  a  view  of  the  struggling  mass,  I  snapped  the 
shutter  and  rolled  to  one  side,  exclaiming:  *'I  got  him! 
I  got  him!'*  With  the  camera  clutched  in  one  hand,  I 
grabbed  at  the  top  of  the  bank  with  the  other,  tearing 
away  a  section  and  rolling  ignominiously  into  the  howl- 
ing, yelping,  fighting  mass.  Distance  certainly  does 
lend  enchantment!  A  p>olar  bear  has  beautiful  teeth, 
and  on  a  sunny  day,  mounted  upon  a  pedestal  of  snow, 
with  the  limitless  ice-fields  as  a  background,  he  is  one 
of  the  noblest  of  nature's  creations — at  a  distance.  I 
scrambled  and  crawled  away  from  this  beautiful  thing 
just  as  rapidly  as  my  forty-two  years  would  permit. 
Another  shot  from  Noo-ka-ping-wa's  .401  and  there 
was  the  bear,  dead — the  long-needed  fresh  meat.  My 
pleasure  at  the  thought  of  it  was  considerably  mitigated 
by  the  sight  of  one  of  my  dogs  crawling  toward  me 
on  his  breast  and  whining  piteously.  With  one  blow  of 
his  great  paw  the  bear  had  flattened  him  to  the  ground, 
crushing  his  hindquarters  and  breaking  his  back.  I 
stroked  his  head  and  walked  away.  A  .22  bullet  ended 
his  misery.    The  Eskimo  did  what  I  could  not  do. 


19161        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  249 

Feeding  our  dogs  and  loading  the  remaining  meat 
onto  our  sledges,  we  plugged  along  toward  camp.  When 
our  dogs  were  hitched  for  the  night  they  had  full  bellies. 
The  singing  Primus  stove  was  lit,  the  door  was  closed, 
pip)es  were  pulled  out,  and  contentment  reigned.  Scarce- 
ly were  we  tucked  away  in  our  sleeping-bags  when  a 
sharp  yelp  from  one  of  the  dogs  held  us  at  attention.  A 
few  hurried  whispers  of  " Nanook-suah!"  ("Big  bear!") 
were  followed  by  E-took-a-shoo  jumping  out  of  his  bag 
and  clapping  his  eye  to  the  peephole  over  the  door. 
" I-shoo-woo!**  ("Sure  enough!")  he  said,  under  his 
breath.  In  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  I  was  alone.  My 
Eskimos  had  gone,  leaving  their  clothes  behind,  merely 
slipping  on  their  kamiks  (boots). 

I  followed  as  quickly  as  I  could  and  beheld  a  striking 
picture — ^three  naked,  brown,  muscular  bodies  standing 
on  a  mound  of  ice  with  rifles  to  their  shoulders,  all  taking 
careful  aim.     I  hastened  toward  them. 

The  short  bark  of  the  Remington  automatic  and  the 
snappy  report  of  the  "Winchester  .401  were  followed  by 
the  crash  of  E-took-a-shoo's  "I-mean-business"  .35. 
Nanook  became  a  huge  white  ball  of  hair,  claws,  and 
snapping  teeth  in  his  endeavors  to  bite  holes  in  his  hind 
quarters,  now  crimson  with  blood.  Down,  up,  and 
down  again.  Then  with  a  hop,  skip,  and  a  jump  he 
headed  for  the  Sound.  E-took-a-shoo  ran  for  his  clothes, 
and  Arklio  for  his  dogs,  while  Noo-ka-ping-wa  squatted 
on  his  hams  and  yelled  with  delight  as  he  saw  that 
silvery  white  turn  to  red. 

E-took-a-shoo,  now  dressed,  ran  south  toward  North 
America,  and  with  a  good  prospect  of  making  it,  I 
thought,  if  the  bear  continued  on  his  course. 

Noo-ka-ping-wa,  our  youngest  and  most  active  man. 


250     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

was  always  in  at  the  death.  In  a  twinkling  he  was 
dressed,  my  dogs  were  hitched  to  his  sledge,  and  he 
was  off.  At  three  o'clock  they  were  back  with  the 
sledge  red  with  meat. 

Again  we  slipped  down  into  our  bags  and  again  we 
scrambled  out — another  bear!  They  were  finding  us 
right  at  home.  Bachelor  apartments,  evidently,  for 
these  were  all  males;  the  ladies  must  be  over  in  Eureka 
Sound.  The  Fates  were  delivering  our  orders  of  the 
last  two  weeks  right  at  our  door  and  in  truck-loads. 
The  bottom  had  fallen  out  of  the  high  price  of  meat. 
Rather  than  proceed  with  heavily  loaded  sledges,  I 
decided  to  remain  here  another  day,  rest  the  dogs,  and 
feed  to  the  limit. 

Here  I  built  a  cairn  and  inclosed  the  following  record: 

Easter  Sunday,  April  23,  1916. — ^Arrived  here  yesterday  on  my 
return  from  Finlay  Land  (King  Christian  Island)  to  Etah,  North 
Greenland.  I  shall  leave  here  to-morrow  for  Cape  Ludvig.  From 
there  I  shall  proceed  to  North  Cornwall,  where  I  hope  to  find  musk- 
oxen  enough  to  enable  me  to  map  east  coast  as  far  as  Gordon  Head. 
Expect  to  arrive  Cape  Southwest  about  May  4th,  and  Etah, 
June  1st. 

Thus  far  we  have  killed  thirteen  bears,  thirteen  seals,  sixteen 
hare,  two  ptarmigan,  and  thirty  musk-oxen.  Have  three  days' 
supply  of  pemmican  on  our  sledges. 

I  have  with  me  three  Eskimos — ^Noo-ka-ping-wa,  Arklio,  and 
E-took-a-shoo. 

Have  lost  eight  dogs  out  of  forty-seven,  three  with  piblock-to, 
three  diopping  on  the  trail,  and  two  killed  by  bears. 

All  weU, 

MAcMUiLAN. 

My  diary  reads: 

April  2Jflh,  Monday,  Thirty-fourth  day. — ^This  is  one  of  the  days 
when  a  man  thinks  strongly  of  the  comforts  of  home.  We  left 
Three-Bear  Camp  at  eleven-fifty  this  morning,  hoping  that  wind 
and  drift  would  subside  in  a  few  hours;  but  in  this  we  were  disap- 


1916]        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  251 

pointed.  On  the  contrary,  it  steadily  increased,  giving  us  the  first 
real  taste  of  bad  weather  and  discomfort  we  have  had  on  the  trip. 

The  condition  of  our  dogs  also  added  to  our  troubles.  Rounded 
out  with  meat  as  they  were,  anything  faster  than  a  slow  walk  was 
positively  painful.  Consequently,  we  were  compelled  to  walk  the 
twenty-five  miles,  with  the  result  that  when  we  arrived  at  our  old 
igloo  on  the  east  side  of  Hassel  Sound  we  were  wet  with  sweat  and 
our  clothes  were  driven  full  of  snow.  We  are  now  trying  to  dry  out, 
with  both  stoves  going. 

Arklio  lost  another  dog  to-day,  a  young  dog  loaned  to  him  by 
Noo-ka-ping-wa.  It  was  so  badly  injured  by  being  run  over  with 
the  sledges  that  he  left  it  on  the  trail. 

Thus  far  we  have  lost  ten  in  all — Arklio,  four;  Noo-ka-ping-wa, 
three;   E-took-a-shoo,  one;  I,  one;   and  Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  one. 

Our  dogs  should  go  better  to-morrow  when  they  have  digested 
some  of  their  awful  load.  My  king-dog  is  as  round  as  a  barrel  and 
as  lazy  as  a  negro  with  the  hookworm.  To-day  he  is  in  disgrace. 
Was  compelled  to  shorten  his  trace  and  warm  him  up  a  bit — the  first 
time  in  three  years  of  driving.  He  is  eight  years  old,  which  is  very 
old  for  a  sledge-dog,  but  still  holds  up  his  end  of  the  work. 

AprU  25, 1916,  Tuesday,  Thirty-fifth  day.    Cub  Camp.— 

Temp.  —20.2"  F. 
At  lOh.   47m.  p.m.  Sun  bears  319°30' 


'   "   "   320 

'  "       "       325°30' 

'   **   "   318°30' 

'   "   '•   320 

*  "       "       319°30' 

The  above  bearings  show  that  the  compass  needle  between  the 
Magnetic  and  North  Poles  is  somewhat  erratic.  I  had  the  same 
trouble  when  I  was  here  before. 

We  arrived  here  after  a  long  march  of  nine  hours,  to  find  our 
igloo  smashed  in  and  our  things  left  here  considerably  scattered. 

Papa  bear  has  been  home.  Not  finding  the  cubs,  as  I  had  them 
well  hidden,  and  not  getting  any  response  from  his  spouse,  he  grabbed 
her  by  the  hair  of  the  head,  dragged  her  out  of  the  igloo,  ate  off  both 
her  hind  legs  and  her  belly,  and  left  her  a  complete  wreck  behind 
an  ice  hummock,  the  cannibal!  Mamma  is  not  worth  taking  home, 
unless  I  decide  to  use  her  for  dog  harness. 

K  we  can  judge  of  papa's  size  by  his  feet,  he  is  a  monster!  Let 
us  hope  that  he  will  come  home  again  to-night.  He  has  probably 
17 


252     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

gone  to  Eureka  Sound  for  a  new  wife.  Fortunately,  he  did  not 
peep  into  my  bag,  which  contains  a  little  of  everything.  He  helped 
himself  to  all  of  otu*  biscuit,  however. 

On  the  26th  we  left  the  south  shore  of  Amund  Ringnes 
Island  and  headed  across  for  Hendriksen  Sound  for 
North  Cornwall,  reaching  there  at  four-fifteen,  I  being 
the  first  white  man  to  step  upon  the  island  for  sixty 
years.  Its  northern,  eastern,  and  much  of  its  southern 
shores  have  never  been  visited  by  man.  On  August 
30,  1852,  Sir  Edward  Belcher,  in  his  search  for  Sir 
John  Franklin,  landed  from  a  boat  on  the  southern 
shore,  touching  for  a  few  hours  only  at  two  points. 

There  we  found  traces  of  wolves,  musk-oxen,  and 
hare,  encouraging  me  to  believe  that  the  game-supply 
might  enable  me  to  round  the  whole  island. 

Upon  the  northern  coast  of  this  island  there  is  a 
magnificent  headland  rising  to  a  height  of  1,200  feet. 
I  named  this  McLeod  Head  after  my  good  friend, 
Capt.  Angus  McLeod.  Upon  its  summit  my  Eskimos 
constructed  a  cairn  five  feet  high  and  four  in  circum- 
ference, for  my  record  inclosed  in  a  small  bottle. 

The  view  was  magnificent.  Three  islands  were  dis- 
covered lying  off  the  shore  to  the  west  and  northwest; 
one  of  these  we  had  passed  coming  over.  In  the  south- 
west a  large  fiord  could  be  plainly  seen,  in  the  center  of 
which  was  a  high  island.  Looking  south  over  the  land 
through  the  hills,  the  sea  ice  blended  into  the  haze  of 
the  distance. 

To  explore  this  new  land  again  I  must  have  meat — 
troublesome  food!  What  an  amount  of  work  a  man 
could  do  if  he  didn't  have  to  eat!  One  miserable  hare 
was  the  result  of  three  hours'  hunting. 

The  morning  of  the  27th  was  memorable,  made  so 


NEST    OF    EIDER    DUCK 


FOUR    THOUSAND    DELICIOUS   FRESH   EGGS    OF    THE    EIDER    DUCK 


1916]         BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  253 

by  a  seemingly  unimportant  incident — a  snow-bunting 
flying  over  our  sledges.  No  one  can  ever  appreciate  our 
emotions  as  we  watched  that  wavering  flight  and  heard 
that  glad  song — a  welcome  message  from  southern 
lands,  an  announcement  that  the  world  still  lives,  that 
we  are  not  forgotten,  that  the  whiteness  of  the  big  hills 
will  soon  darken  into  beds  of  beautiful  flowers,  that  the 
valley  snows  will  quickly  change  to  running  waters,  that 
the  air  will  again  resound  with  the  whirring  of  wings 
and  the  laughter  of  happy  Eskimo  children,  that  our 
cracked,  frost-bitten  faces  will  feel  once  more  the  safe 
touch  of  warm  southern  winds.  Your  bluebird  of  spring 
is  but  dry  prose  in  comparison  with  kop-a-noo  (snow- 
bird), a  beautiful  poem. 

Twenty  miles  due  east  in  my  running  survey,  and 
still  no  game.  A  bear  track  only,  and  this  could  not 
be  eaten.  The  party  must  be  divided.  Arklio  and 
E-took-a-shoo  would  cross  to  Cape  Southwest  of  Axel 
Heiberg  Land,  and,  if  successful  in  their  hunting,  put 
meat  in  cache  for  the  return  of  Noo-ka-ping-wa  and  my- 
self from  the  southern  shore  of  the  island  a  few  days 
later.  That  night  our  two  sleeping-bags  seemed  very 
small  on  the  large,  wide,  white  bed.  I  missed  the  boys 
and  was  sorry  to  have  them  go. 

It  was  not  until  two-thirty  of  the  29th  that  we  were 
ready  for  bed.  "If  it  takes  E-took-a-shoo,  Arklio,  and 
Noo-ka-ping-wa  one  hour  to  build  a  snow  house,  and 
E-took-a-shoo  works  one  and  one-half  faster  than  Ark- 
lio, and  Arklio  one-third  as  fast  as  Noo-ka-ping-wa,  how 
long  will  it  take  Noo-ka-ping-wa?"  I  queried  to  myself, 
as  I  sawed  out  the  snow  blocks  and  tried  to  recall  the' 
algebra  of  my  school-days.  And  I  answered  to  myself; 
**I  don't  give  a  rap.     No  school  to-morrow." 


254     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [April 

Just  before  closing  our  door,  Noo-ka-ping-wa  placed 
his  rifle  against  the  entrance,  ready  for  a  visitor.  At 
four-thirty  he  or  she  arrived,  the  approach  being  her- 
alded by  a  commotion  among  our  dogs.  Noo-ka-ping- 
wa  slipped  out  of  his  sleeping-bag  and  ducked  through 
the  door,  having  on  only  a  pair  of  drawers  and  socks. 
As  he  did  so,  the  whole  arch  dropj>ed  on  his  bare  back. 
At  twenty  below  zero,  this  accelerated  rather  than  re- 
tarded his  scramble  for  his  rifle.  It  afforded  me,  how- 
ever, some  amusement,  and  dropp>ed  the  curtain  for  a 
good  view  of  the  scene  of  action.  He  squatted  in  the 
snow  and  pulled  his  automatic  three  times,  leading  me 
to  believe  that  the  bear  was  on  the  move.  But  this 
fear  was  immediately  dispelled  by  his  turning  to  me 
and  yelling,  "He's  dead!"  After  he  had  come  into  the 
igloo  I  inquired  why  he  had  shot  so  many  times,  to 
which  he  replied:  "We  were  both  undressed.  It  was 
blowing  and  drifting,  and  I  was  afraid  he  would  get 
away.     So  I  thought  I  had  better  smash  him  all  up." 

On  the  29th  we  arrived  at  a  iK)int  on  the  southern 
shore  of  the  island  a  short  distance  from  Table  and 
Exmouth  Islands,  passing  along  the  shore  between  a 
newly  discovered  island  and  the  mainland.  The  new 
island  is  but  a  half-mile  distant,  about  two  miles  long 
and  one-half  mile  wide. 

Here  on  the  southern  shore,  up>on  the  summit  of  a 
hill  one  mile  distant,  I  built  a  cairn  and  dej>osited  a 
record.  *- 

Sunday,  April  30th,  was  the  fairest  of  days,  enabling 
me  to  get  ten  good  sights — ^for  longitude,  latitude,  and 
azimuth.  For  the  first  time  the  thermometer  postered 
above  zero,  being  -f-8°  F. 

My  dogs  were  in  excellent  condition,  covering  the 


1916]        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  255 

sixteen  miles  of  the  back  trail  in  a  little  over  three  hours, 
trotting  the  whole  distance. 

On  May  1st  we  killed  another  magnificent  specimen 
of  a  ix)lar  bear.  As  I  ran  along  by  his  side  for  a  hundred 
yards  or  more,  snapping  my  camera,  I  noticed  a  hitherto 
unrecorded  fact — he  was  skiiing  with  his  front  feet  on 
every  slight  descent,  fairly  gliding  through  space! 

The  remarks  of  my  Eskimo  boy  are  of  interest:  "He 
has  a  very  large  spleen.  He  has  been  to  sleep.  If  the 
spleen  is  small,  he  is  through  sleeping.  We  always  give 
some  of  this  to  the  young  dogs  to  make  them  good  bear- 
dogs.  The  bears  here  are  different  from  bears  near 
home.  There  the  dogs  easily  stop  them.  Here  they 
seem  to  keep  going.  I  think  it  is  because  of  the  wolves 
here." 

Upon  our  arrival  at  Cape  Southwest  on  the  2d  we 
found  evidence  of  a  raid  upon  our  old  camp  by  the 
white  wolves.  The  snow  was  covered  with  hair,  the 
remains  of  musk-ox  skins  we  had  left  here  upon  our 
advance.  Sticking  in  the  snow  block  over  the  igloo 
entrance  were  seventeen  stubs  of  matches,  which,  trans- 
lated into  the  Eskimo  language,  informed  us  that  Arklio 
and  E-took-a-shoo  had  killed  as  many  hare.  Failing 
to  find  larger  game,  they  had  gone  on  east  as  I  had 
directed. 

During  the  evening  it  began  to  snow,  with  the  wind 
southeast,  raising  the  temperature  from  five  below  zero 
to  twenty-four  above. 

Here  is  the  list  of  what  two  of  us  ate  at  that  igloo, 
evidence  that  we  were  in  good  health:  One  j)ound  of 
crackers,  one-half  pound  of  j)emmican,  the  hearts  and 
livers  of  four  hare,  four  pounds  of  meat,  one  quart  and 
a  half  of  malted  milk,  and  one  cake  of  army  chocolate. 


256      FOUR  YEAHS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    DMay 

At  Cai>e  Southwest  we  built  another  cairn  and  left 
a  record  of  our  visit  in  a  chocolate-tin. 

Remarks  by  Noo-ka-ping-wa:  "The  gyrfalcon  is  the 
swiftest  bird  in  the  North.  It  will  overtake  and  capt- 
ure even  the  ptarmigan,  which  is  very  fast.  It  also 
catches  little  auks,  ducks,  and  even  glaucous  gulls. 
The  owl  must  be  very  strong  to  catch  and  hold  a  large 
hare." 

On  the  5th  we  traveled  east  with  a  strong  wind  and 
drift,  which  continued  right  up  to  our  igloo  door.  As 
we  approached  I  said  to  myself,  "Yes,  there  is  the  igloo 
with  a  pemmican-tin  on  top  of  it."  To  my  astonish- 
ment, a  few  seconds  later  the  tin  became  animated  and 
dissolved  into  the  laughing  mouth  and  long  black  hair 
of  Arklio.  He  had  his  head  right  up  through  the 
ventilating  hole  in  the  top  of  the  snow  house,  watching 
us  drive  into  town.     All  happy  to  be  together  again. 

It  needed  something  more  than  a  strong  wind,  drift, 
and  breaking  crust  to  discourage  us  on  our  next  day's 
march.  We  were  homeward  bound.  A  rapid  run  over 
the  smooth  ice  of  Ulve  Fiord  brought  us  to  our  old  igloo 
at  Bjornesundet,  where  another  cairn  and  record  were 
left. 

We  were  now  gradually  turning  night  into  day — that 
is,  we  were  traveling  while  the  sun  was  low  in  the  north 
and  sleeping  while  it  was  high  in  the  south.  It  was  ab- 
solutely necessary  to  wear  our  amber-colored  glasses 
constantly.  Snow-blindness  and  extreme  suffering  air- 
ways follow  a  few  hours'  exposure  to  the  reflected  rays 
of  the  sun  during  the  month  of  May.  In  April  the 
sun  is  so  low  that  the  angle  of  incidence  is  small,  and 
consequently  the  reflected  rays  are  not  in  the  least 
painful.     Finally,   in   June   the   snow-fields   have   lost 


1916]        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  257 

much  of  their  brightness  by  thawing  into  dark  pools  of 
water  which  are  restful  to  the  eyes. 

On  the  6th  we  faced  a  cold  wind  for  eleven  hours  and 
a  half,  with  fifty  miles  to  our  credit.  As  I  watched 
those  little  legs  reeling  off  mile  after  mile,  my  thoughts 
went  back  to  that  bright  moonlight  night  in  January, 
1915 — not  a  breath  of  wind  and  the  ice  as  hard  and 
smooth  as  a  floor — when  they  trotted  their  full  hundred! 
Only  one  dropped;  the  others  finished  with  tails  tightly 
curled,  rubbed  their  heads  against  my  legs,  placed  their 
paws  against  my  breast,  and  wanted  to  be  told  that 
they  had  done  their  work  and  done  it  well.  Magnificent 
animals!  Faithful  to  the  end  of  the  long  trail!  How  I 
miss  them! 

Another  sign  of  spring  at  this  camp,  although  only 
eight  above  zero — a  live  caterpillar!  We  take  our  tent 
out  of  a  cache  and  pitch  it  for  the  first  time  on  the  trip. 
The  joy  of  living  in  a  tent  after  a  season  of  snow  houses ! 

Driving  up  Bay  Fiord  the  next  day,  we  found  the  hills 
fairly  crawling  with  Arctic  hare.  With  every  hour  the 
temptation  to  pot  a  few  for  supper  grew  stronger,  until 
it  could  be  resisted  no  longer.  My,  but  hare  meat  is 
good!  At  the  head  of  the  fiord  a  large  pile  of  meat  as- 
sured us  that  our  dogs  would  be  in  excellent  condition 
for  their  climb  over  the  glacier  of  EUesmere  Land.  A 
day  of  rest  here,  on  which  the  Eskimos  played  their 
first  game  of  whist.  The  ladies  of  Etah  this  winter  are 
possibly  playing  bridge. 

Our  first  mile  in  two  hours  on  the  10th  was  not  at 
the  rate  of  modem  travel.  The  day  is  not  far  distant 
when  the  Demon  of  the  North,  so  jealous  of  its  secrets, 
will  be  robbed  of  one  of  his  best  weapons  of  defense — 
deep  snows.     The  aeronaut  may  well  laugh  when  he 


258      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

sees  those  valleys  and  big  white  hills  rolling  back  be- 
neath him. 

Thick  fog  compelled  us  to  camp  on  the  back  of  the 
glacier.  The  trail  was  lost;  not  a  landmark  could  be 
seen  Lost  again  on  the  11th.  We  dared  not  go  on  for 
fear  of  going  over  the  edge  of  the  glacier.  No  one  could 
sleep;  all  were  as  restless  as  myself.  At  the  first  ray 
of  sun  through  the  clouds,  sledges  were  packed  and  we 
were  off  down  the  glacier  and  valley  to  the  sea  ice,  where 
we  found,  in  our  old  igloo,  four  bear  and  two  musk-ox 
skins  left  by  two  of  my  men.  Our  sledges  were  now 
well  loaded — ^fourteen  bear  and  thirteen  musk-ox  skins. 

At  the  water-hole,  four  seals  furnished  us  with  a 
change  of  diet.  Seal  meat  is  the  Eskimo's  turkey,  his 
staple  food;  a  seal's  flipper  is  his  entree,  and  a  seal's 
liver  his  ice-cream.  We  learned  to  like  it;  in  fact  we 
were  never  tired  of  it.  I  think  our  good  health  during 
the  four  years  may  be  attributed  to  our  abundance  of 
fresh  seal  meat.  And  every  spring,  on  the  ice-floes  off 
Newfoundland,  at  least  two  million  pounds  are  left  to 
rot! 

On  the  14th  we  pitched  our  tent  on  the  ice  in  front 
of  Greely's  Starvation  Camp  of  1884.  We  could  see  a 
number  of  seals  at  their  holes,  and  we  secured  one 
easily.  How  many  times  I  have  wished  that  one  Etah 
Eskimo  could  have  crossed  Smith  Sound  to  that  camp 
of  dying  men!  He  might  have  saved  the  lives  of  the 
whole  party.     '  •. 

Heading  east,  we  heard  the  sound  of  waves  beating 
against  the  edge  of  the  ice.  Stretching  north  as  far  as 
the  eye  could  see  was  open  water.  Smith  Sound  had 
broken  up!  We  knew,  however,  that  somewhere  to  the 
north  of  us  was  the  solid  pack — a  bridge  to  Greenland. 


1916]        BACK  ACROSS  ELLESMERE  LAND  259 

Back  again  toward  Victoria  Head  we  plodded,  almost 
doubling  on  our  tracks. 

Looking  ahead,  I  saw  the  boys  running  toward  a 
black  object  on  the  ice,  make  a  hasty  examination,  then 
mount  a  pressure  ridge,  sprint  back  to  their  sledges, 
and  drive  off  like  mad.  In  a  few  minutes  there  appeared 
in  front  of  them  a  small  white  animal,  which  I  thought 
must  be  a  wolf.  It  proved  to  be  a  polar-bear  cub  weigh- 
ing about  forty  pounds,  which  was  captured  and  lashed 
to  the  sledge. 

In  about  an  hour  Arklio  jumped  to  his  feet,  standing 
upon  his  sledge,  and  declaring  that  he  could  see  a  dog 
off  in  the  distance.  Two  teams  were  sighted,  and  I 
knew  that  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  and  Ak-pood-a-shah-o 
had  not  forgotten  that  I  had  requested  them  to  leave 
home  and  come  to  me  when  the  little  auks  arrived  from 
the  south.  Living  newspapers  when  met  on  the  trail! 
We  eagerly  gathered  around  them  to  absorb  every 
word: 

*'In-you-ta  has  been  drowned.  Capsized  in  his  ka- 
yak, harpooning  a  narwhal.  Line  caught.  He  cut  it 
and  got  out  of  the  hole.  He  was  found  floating  feet 
up.    No,  I  don't  know  who  is  to  have  his  wife. 

"Toi-tee-a  shot  a  boy  at  Kah-na.  An  accidental  dis- 
charge of  his  rifle.  The  bullet  entered  the  hip  and 
passed  up  through  the  stomach  and  intestines. 

"Panikpa  and  Koo-la-ting-wa  shot  one  bear  on  their 
return.  Ak-pood-a-shah-o  and  Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa  got 
two."  This  makes  us  a  total  of  twenty  for  our  spring 
trip. 

"Ka-ko-tchee-a  and  Kae-we-ark-sha  have  both  shot 
caribou  at  Etah. 

"Au-duck-a-shing-ya    is    married,    thank    goodness! 


260      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

She  punched  the  first  man  who  came  after  her,  but  ac- 
cepted the  second." 

Just  before  midnight  of  the  16th  we  drove  into 
Etah.  The  long  1,200-mile  trip  was  over.  The  dogs 
wagged  their  tails  and  uttered  that  bass  growl  of  pleas- 
ure as  I  freed  them  of  their  well-worn  harness.  For 
them  school  was  out;  the  long  summer  vacation  had 
begun.  For  me  a  bath.  Seventy  soapless,  washless 
days.    Warm  water  and  soap,  comforts  of  civilization. 


xm 

ALONE   AT    BORUP  LODGE 

OHORTLY  after  my  departure  for  King  Christian 
^  Island,  Ekblaw  had  left  for  North  Star  Bay,  plan- 
ning to  study  all  tide-water  glaciers  en  route.  I  now 
found  a  letter  awaiting  me  stating  that  he  was  at  the 
sub-station,  with  the  work  accomplished.  Doctor  Hovey 
and  Doctor  Hunt  would  return  to  New  York  on  the 
George  B.  Cluett  up>on  her  breaking  out  of  the  ice  in  July. 
Ekblaw  would  await  the  arrival  of  the  new  expected 
relief-ship  which  Doctor  Hovey  had  requested  the 
American  Museum  to  send,  in  view  of  the  refusal  of 
Captain  Pickles  of  the  Cluett  to  proceed  farther. 

When  I  got  back  to  Etah  I  led  my  bear  into  the, 
house,  through  our  big  living-room,  out  into  our  work- 
shop, and  tethered  him  to  the  leg  of  the  bench.  I  had 
not  been  out  three  minutes  when  Jot  rushed  excitedly 
from  the  front  door,  yelling:  "For  God's  sake  come  in! 
He's  tearing  hell  out  of  the  house!" 

Bursting  into  the  back  room,  I  found  it  a  mess.  The 
stove  was  turned  around,  the  pipe  was  down.  The  floor 
was  littered  with  cans,  boxes,  sledge  runners,  and  cloth- 
ing. Everything  had  been  swept  off  the  bench,  and  on 
top  of  it  was  Bowdoin,  as  I  called  him,  tearing  madly 
at  the  back  window  in  a  desperate  effort  to  reach  the 


262      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

light.  Whining  with  rage  at  being  restrained  by  the 
rope  around  his  neck,  he  rushed  at  me  like  a  whirlwind, 
grabbing  my  leg  and  arm;  but,  clothed  in  skins  as  I  was, 
he  was  not  considered  dangerous.  When  he  discovered 
that  his  attacks  were  always  met  with  a  laugh  and 
were  not  resisted,  he  would  drop  his  head,  protrude  his 
upper  lip,  blow,  and  cry  for  all  the  world  like  a  baby 
with  the  croup. 

In  a  few  days  he  followed  me  about  like  a  dog,  but 
he  was  almost  too  affectionate  in  his  demonstrations, 
tripping  me  up  rei>eatedly  by  rubbing  his  head  against 
my  legs.  Each  day  he  had  his  swim  at  the  edge  of  the 
ice,  and  how  he  enjoyed  it !  Floating  high  and  with  long, 
easy  stride,  he  fairly  walked  through  the  water,  being 
much  more  at  home  in  than  out.  He  is  rightly  termed 
amphibious.  The  p>olar  bear,  called  by  sailors  the  water 
bear,  has  been  reported  swimming  even  100  miles  from 
land.  He  is  also  credited  with  the  power  of  swimming 
with  only  the  tip  of  his  black  muzzle  visible  above  the 
surface.  In  this  p>osition  it  is  possible  for  him  success- 
fully to  stalk  his  staple  food,  the  seal,  sleeping  or  sun- 
ning on  a  pan  of  ice. 

My  little  cub  was  ever  a  source  of  amusement;  clean 
grit  from  his  nose  to  the  rudiments  of  his  tail,  he  feared 
neither  dog  nor  man,  walking  as  deliberately  and  as  un- 
concernedly through  om*  settlement  as  he  would  alone 
on  a  distant  ice-field.  But  let  an  unsuspecting,  would- 
be-social  pup  get  within  reach  of  that  short  stubby  fore 
paw  tipped  with  steel  hooks,  then  there  was  a  blur  in 
the  air  followed  by  a  yelp  of  pain. 

For  hours  he  amused  himself  by  climbing  the  snow 
sloj>e  to  the  end  of  his  tether,  turning  around,  and  slid- 
ing down  on  his  stomach  with  outstretched  legs.    He 


1916]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  263 

grew  and  strengthened  so  rapidly  that  I  harnessed  him 
to  my  sledge.  We  went  to  ride  very  often,  always  going 
where  he  wanted,  never  where  I  did. 

One  morning  he  was  gone.  Once  before  I  had  found 
him  free,  sitting  on  top  of  his  cage,  looking  wistfully 
out  over  the  harbor  ice  to  the  blue  stretch  of  open 
water  beyond.  Here  shelter,  comfort,  and  food,  a  life 
of  indolence  and  ease;  but  out  there  that  for  which  he 
was  born — troubled  waters,  drifting  pans,  flying  spray, 
a  matching  of  his  wits  and  his  strength  against  the  ele- 
ments.   I  was  glad  the  pen  was  empty. 

Now  began  the  third  season  of  busy  days,  when  one 
hated  to  go  to  bed,  but  wanted  to  work  the  clock  around. 
The  little  auks  (Alle  alle)  had  arrived  on  time.  May 
15th,  and  were  now  swarming  in  millions  on  the  talus 
slopes;  and  circling  with  them,  hovering  over  them, 
and  feeding  on  them  the  big  glaucous  gull,  at  this  season 
a  bird  of  prey. 

The  raven,  with  us  always,  worries  his  skeleton-like 
body  through  the  dark,  cold  days  of  winter  upon  a  real 
starvation  diet,  now  and  then  dropping  to  the  trail  be- 
hind us  for  the  refuse  of  the  dogs.  But  upon  the  arrival 
of  the  dovekies  and  the  ducks  they  also  become  pred- 
atory, pursuing  and  seizing  the  former  in  their  beaks 
and  eating  the  eggs  of  the  latter.  A  raven  often  may 
be  seen  high  in  air,  directing  his  course  toward  his 
nestlings  on  the  cHflf,  with  his  lower  bill  driven  through 
the  shell  of  an  eg,g. 

The  white  and  blue  foxes  are  now  at  the  height  of 
their  prosperity  and  happiness.  Birds  and  eggs  every- 
where; delicious  morsels  following  the  patient  nibbling 
of  the  frozen  meat  stolen  from  the  caches  of  the  Eskimos. 
The  fox's  mouth  is  apparently  small,  but  when  those 


264     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     Uunb 

jaws  are  fully  opened  they  are  easily  capable  of  taking 
in  a  full-sized  duck's  egg.  One  by  one  the  nests  are 
robbed,  until  the  hole  beneath  the  rocks  is  full  to  over- 
flowing. The  harvest  is  ended  and  winter  is  provided 
for. 

On  June  5th  I  noticed  the  first  flower  of  spring,  the 
purple  saxifrage  {Saxifraga  oppositifolia) .  In  two  weeks 
mingling  and  contrasting  with  them  would  be  that 
nomad  of  the  North,  the  Arctic  ix)ppy  {Papaver  radi- 
catum).  It  is  found  everywhere,  even  to  the  edge  of  the 
Polar  Sea,  and  blossoming  at  that  most  northern  point 
of  all  known  lands.  Cape  Morris  Jesup,  370  miles  from 
the  Pole.  The  arnica,  the  buttercup,  the  dandelion, 
and  the  daisy  also  came  to  us.  There  were  fourteen 
different  species  within  a  few  feet  of  our  door. 

By  the  middle  of  June  water  was  running  over  the 
cliff  and  down  through  every  valley.  The  temperature 
stood  at  thirty-nine  above.  The  snowbirds  {Plectro- 
phenax  nivalis)  were  building  their  nests.  Summer  had 
come.  Eggs  of  the  eider  duck,  the  brant,  and  the 
glaucous  gull  were  all  found  on  the  16th.  On  the  25th, 
four  thousand  eggs  were  cached  for  our  winter's  use. 

Weeks  of  most  careful  search  over  nearly  every  square 
foot  of  the  big  hills  north  of  Etah  failed  to  discover  the 
very  rare  and  consequently  the  very  valuable  eggs  of 
the  knot  {Tringa  canutus).  Long  hours,  wet  feet,  and 
aching  limbs  were  well  repaid,  however,  by  the  dis- 
covery of  the  eggs  of  the  European  ring-necked  plover 
{Mgialitis  hiaticula)^  Baird's  sandpiper  {Pisohia  bairdi), 
and  the  red  phalaroi>e  (Phalaropus  fulicarius), 

I  was  highly  elated  to  learn  later,  upon  communica- 
tion with  Ekblaw  at  the  sub-station,  that  Doctor  Hunt 
had  found   two  sets  of  the  knot   eggs   at   Umanak. 


HHHHHMVMHMH 

■BMHUI^;  'ML.iWMjypp 

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HHRHpHHH 

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■H.  "Jm^^^^nDR)!! 

^bP^^  /'J 

h^^^^^kR 

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■HQlj^M^HHi  y^fl^yEP^jS^]p 

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^"'^^'*'^.'V*  '  **"  "^ 

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jH^BB*^ 

jPAoio  62/  Ekblaw 


THE    RARE    EGGS    OF    THE   KNOT     (tRINGA    CANUTUs) 


fiKJto  by  Ekblaw 
THE   KNOT   UPON   NEST 

The  colors  of  thia  bird  are  such  that  when  sitting  upon  the  nest  it  is  almost  impossible  of  detection. 


19161  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  Q65 

Contrary  to  the  general  belief,  this  bird  lays  its  eggs  not 
near  the  shore,  but  well  back  among  the  hills.  The  color 
of  the  back  so  closely  resembles  that  of  the  soil  that 
the  bird  on  its  nest  can  only  be  detected  with  difficulty. 

On  July  5th,  with  a  subconscious  but  a  bit-delayed 
patriotic  attitude  toward  the  Glorious  Fourth,  which 
we  had  ushered  in  the  day  before  with  a  rapid  salute  of 
our  ten  guns,  We-we's  three-year-old  boy  walked  bravely 
by  our  front  door  with  a  large  stick  of  dynamite  in 
his  mouth!  This  particular  stick  carefully  secured  and 
disposed  of,  the  thought  occurred  to  me  that  possibly 
the  naturally  curious-minded  Eskimos  might  cook  the 
dynamite  in  mistake  for  erbswurst,  which  it  strongly 
resembled;  therefore  I  removed  the  box  with  the  loose 
cover  to  a  safe  distance  around  the  bend  of  the  cove, 
some  300  yards  west  of  the  house.  Two  days  later  a 
pup  appeared  at  our  front  door  with  a  stick  in  his 
mouth,  wagging  his  tail  and  trying  to  tell  me  that  he 
had  found  that  which  was  lost.  It  was  rather  interest- 
ing trying  to  catch  this  playful  animal,  since  he  persisted 
in  dropping  his  plaything  every  twenty  yards  or  so  in 
order  to  get  a  better  grip  on  it  with  his  teeth. 

On  July  21st,  with  my  three  favorite  Eskimos — 
E-took-a-shoo,  ArkHo,  and  Ak-pood-a-shah-o — I  left 
Etah  in  my  twenty-one-foot  dory  for  a  bight  below  Sul- 
wuddy  we  called  Snug  Harbor.  The  Arctic  tern  was 
supposed  to  breed  here,  and  we  wanted  the  eggs  for 
our  collection.  A  heavy  squall  off  Cape  Alexander  com- 
pelled us  to  return  for  a  camp  at  the  Crystal  Palace 
Cliffs.  The  next  day  we  reached  Sutherland  Island 
without  incident  and  found  it  to  be  the  nesting-place 
of  hundreds  of  eider  ducks,  gulls,  and  brant.  A  large 
flock  of  the  latter  was  resting  upon  the  surface  of  Snug 


§66      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [July 

Harbor,  which  we  reached  a  few  hours  later.  Five  shots 
were  fired  before  it  dawned  upon  us  that  these  geese 
could  not  fly — they  were  molting  their  feathers.  As 
tickled  as  school-boys,  we  drove  the  hissing  birds  before 
us  over  the  hills,  picking  out  the  plumpest  for  our  eve- 
ning meal. 

My  field  journal  for  the  next  day  reaas: 

Jvly  llith,  Friday. — The  devil  took  a  holiday  yesterday  to  plan 
for  our  destruction  to-day.  When  sailing  up  from  Snug  Harbor 
with  a  good  southerly  breeze — well,  I  should  have  known  that 
nothing  good  comes  out  of  the  South.  We  were  led  on,  innocents 
as  we  were,  to  the  end  of  the  cape,  and  there  we  ran  into  trouble. 
Arklio  was  steering  with  boom  on  port  side,  wind  almost  east,  run- 
ning along  near  the  shore.  As  we  approached  the  point  the  wind 
hauled  more  southeriy.  We  couldn't  tack;  we  conldn't  jibe;  we 
couldn't  lower  the  sail;  for  if  we  did,  the  boom  would  drop  into 
the  water  and  perhaps  capsize  the  boat. 

Fortunately,  there  were  no  shrouds  on  the  dory,  which  enabled 
me  to  let  out  sheet  enough  to  swing  the  boom  well  for'ard  over 
the  bow.  In  this  way  we  managed  to  work  around  the  cape  and 
into  a  niche  in  the  cliflF,  where  we  took  in  a  double  reef  for  the  run 
to  Etah,  ten  miles  away.  We  hadn't  left  the  place  ten  minutes 
when  I  realized  that  we  were  in  for  it.  It  blew  so  hard  that  the 
water  was  lifted  in  sheets  and  in  whorls  like  dust  in  the  street. 

Heavily  loaded,  with  only  about  a  foot  freeboard  and  with  two 
kayaks  in  tow,  naturally  we  shipped  several  seas.  If  we  continued 
to  do  so,  I  had  decided  to  throw  overboard  all  our  personal  equip- 
ment and  provisions,  such  as  oil  and  biscuit. 

Within  fifteen  minutes  the  lacing  on  the  gaff  broke  and  the  peak 
of  the  sail  slatted  loose.  In  vain  I  tried  to  hoist  the  boom  higher  to 
prevent  it  catching  in  a  sea  and  capsizing  us.  I  realized  that  in 
lowering  it  and  stopping  headway  there  was  danger  of  a  sea  rolling 
over  the  stem  and  fiUing  the  boat,  but  it  had  to  be  done.  Telling 
the  boys  to  keep  headway  with  the  oars,  I  quickly  lowered  it,  re- 
paired the  lacing,  and  hoisted  it  again. 

The  water  was  now  well  up  over  the  floor,  and  we  were  wet  through 
and  through  with  ice-water.  There  was  such  a  heavy  sea  that 
twice  we  ran  the  how  of  the  dory  imder  when  riding  before  a  sea. 
The  two  kayaks,  lashed  together,  were  jumping,  twisting,  pulling, 
and  jerking.    Time  and  time  again  riding  on  a  sea,  they  ran  their 


1916]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  ^ 

noses  into  the  stern  of  the  boat.  If  they  filled  or  capsized,  it  would 
have  been  necessary  to  cut  them  adrift. 

When  about  half-way  between  the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs  and 
Cape  Kendrick,  E-took-a-shoo's  kayak  filled.  One  hundred  yards 
further  Arklio's  turned  bottom  up.  Fortunately,  here  the  sea  was 
not  heavy,  which  enabled  me  to  work  slowly  deep  into  Pandora 
Harbor,  where  we  are  now  trying  to  dry  out.  Our  only  loss  is  a 
pair  of  bearskin  pants  out  of  a  kayak. 

Since  there  was  a  large  amount  of  water  in  our  boat,  our  brant 
geese,  which  we  had  captured  alive  and  were  taking  to  Etah,  were 
right  in  their  element,  but  our  nestlings,  geese,  ducks,  and  gulls, 
were  actually  drowned. 

It  was  with  a  very  secure  feeling  that  we  lay  in  our  tent  that 
night,  Ustening  to  the  roar  of  the  wind  over  the  top  of  the  high  hiUs 
bordering  our  retreat.  A  cessation  of  the  wind  enabled  us  to  reach 
home  in  the  morning  without  further  incident. 

From  now  on  it  was  rush,  rush,  rush.  Everything 
must  be  packed  for  transportation  to  New  York.  The 
relief-ship  was  expected  at  any  minute,  and  then  there 
was  always  the  uncertainty  of  her  arrival,  prompting 
us  to  work  night  and  day  for  eggs,  birds,  walrus,  and 
seal  for  the  following  winter.  Our  natives  killed  and 
cached  seventy-five  walrus  during  July  and  August. 
One  walrus  had  three  tusks,  exciting  considerable  curios- 
ity and  interest,  as  they  had  never  seen  one  like  it 
before. 

On  August  9th  a  large  polar  bear  appeared,  swim- 
ming across  the  harbor,  an  especially  gratifying  sight, 
since  a  few  weeks  previous,  upon  developing  negatives 
of  my  spring  trip,  I  discovered  that  many  of  them  were 
hght-struck,  due  to  a  small  pinhole  in  the  bellows  of 
my  3  A.  Mr.  Bear  came  to  Etah  expressly  to  be  photo- 
graphed, and  behaved  exceedingly  well.  His  perfect 
adaptation  to  his  environment  was  well  marked.  He 
was  a  beautiful  swimmer,  both  on  the  surface  and  be- 
low, and  a  most  graceful  diver,  rolling  his  back  out  of 

18 


^68    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Aug. 

water  exactly  like  a  white  whale,  which,  in  fact,  some 
of  the  natives  at  first  thought  it  was.  We  could 
clearly  see  that  he  propelled  himself  with  all  four  legs, 
a  fact  contrary  to  what  has  been  recorded  by  other  ob- 
servers. 

By  surrounding  him  with  kayaks,  it  was  possible  for 
us  to  drive  him  in  any  desired  direction,  even  into  the 
front  door  of  our  house,  had  we  wished  it.  A  mental 
picture  of  Jot  going  out  the  back  door  was  a  strong 
temptation  for  us  to  act  uj>on  the  thought.  A  small 
berg,  however,  offered  a  better  setting  for  such  a  noble 
animal.  There,  drawn  up  in  a  dignified  manner,  with 
his  white  body  outlined  against  the  black  hills,  he 
looked  every  inch  of  what  he  is,  the  king  of  the  North. 

A  cry  of  "Boat  coming!"  on  August  17th  aroused  me 
from  a  sound  sleep.  The  expected  big  ship  with  a  trail 
of  black  smoke  dwindled  to  a  white  power-boat  with  an 
intermittent  cough.  Doctor  Hovey  had  arrived  again. 
With  him  were  Captain  Comer,  Freuchen,  and  two 
Eskimos.  For  various  reasons.  Doctor  Hovey,  Captain 
Comer,  Doctor  Hunt,  and  Mr.  Ekblaw  had  refused  to 
embark  on  the  Cluett  when  she  sailed  for  home  on  the 
29th  of  July.  They  were  positive  that  another  ship 
would  be  sent  by  the  American  Museum  and  preferred 
to  await  its  arrival.  Now,  considerably  worried  over 
its  non-apj>earance,  they  had  come  to  Etah  to  inform 
me  that  it  was  their  intention,  if  the  ship  had  not  ar- 
rived by  August  20th,  to  proceed  south  across  Melville 
Bay  to  Upemavik  in  the  boat.  Again  there  was  only 
one  decision  for  me  to  make — remain  with  the  collec- 
tions and  the  equipment  until  a  ship  arrived  at  Etah, 
or  until  I  received  definite  orders  from  the  American 
Museum  to  abandon  everything.    If  I  did  not  receive 


1916]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  269 

instructions  by  the  summer  of  1917,  I  would  sledge 
home  by  way  of  EUesmere  and  Baffin  Land  and  Hudson 
Bay. 

Jot  would  have  remained  in  a  minute  had  I  requested 
it.  I  advised  him  by  all  means  to  take  advantage  of 
this  oppK)rtunity  of  reaching  home.  Once  more  I  bade 
them  good-by,  and  watched  the  white  dot  disappear 
beyond  the  outer  islands.  I  was  now  alone  with  my 
Eskimos  for  an  indefinite  period.  It  was  with  a  very 
strange  feeling  that  I  sat  down  in  my  room  to  listen 
to  the  stillness  which  pervaded  the  big  house,  but 
only  for  a  moment.  The  happy  laughter  of  an  Eskimo 
child  immediately  dispelled  all  thoughts  of  lost  oppor- 
tunities. I  could  not  be  homesick  surrounded  by  such 
people.  And  then  again,  the  ship  would  come.  It 
was  early  yet,  only  August  18th. 

Preparations  for  home  went  on.  Box  after  box  was 
nailed  and  marked.  One  hundred  and  sixty  were  now 
ready.  On  August  23d  the  sun,  which  had  been  with 
us  for  124  days,  swung  below  the  northern  horizon,  the 
first  warning  that  winter  was  at  hand.  For  the  next 
sixty-two  days  the  sun  would  rise  and  set  as  at  home, 
and  then  would  come  the  long  sunless  period  of  118 
days.  On  the  night  of  the  25th  the  lamp  was  Hghted, 
a  real  event  in  our  simple  life  at  Etah.  How  cheerful 
it  looked  in  our  smoke-begrimed  room.  Yes,  the  Arctic 
night  is  welcome! 

By  September  1st  I  had  given  up  all  hope  of  relief 
and  began  to  rush  my  preparations  for  the  winter.  The 
back  room  was  filled  with  wood,  double  windows  were 
put  on,  the  shed  roof  was  entirely  renewed.  All  holes 
in  the  house  were  patched,  boat-loads  of  grass  were  ob- 
tained, boxes  were  unpacked,  skins  packed  away,  and 


270    FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Sept. 

eight  tons  of  coal  brought  from  the  point  in  the  little 
punt.    All  was  now  secure. 

The  Arctic  is  ever  ready  with  a  surprise  It  seems 
to  delight  in  turning  white  into  bleak,  to  smash  plans 
utterly,  to  drown  hope  with  a  flood  of  disapp)ointment, 
and  then  again  to  whisk  away  darkness  with  a  flood  of 
sunshine. 

On  September  7th  there  was  a  faint  putter — ^putter — 
putter  heard  far  to  the  south.  Could  it  be  possible.'^ 
Yes,  it  was  Rasmussen's  boat  returning  to  Etah;  the 
clumsy  Danish  model  could  not  fail  of  recognition. 
Various  reasons  for  her  return  were  racing  through  my 
mind.  With  the  aid  of  binoculars  I  could  recognize 
Doctor  Hovey,  Captain  Comer,  Ekblaw,  and  Jot  stand- 
ing on  the  deck. 

Their  story  can  be  told  in  a  very  few  words  The  ex- 
pected relief-ship  had  not  arrived.  The  ice  conditions 
below  TJmanak  were  so  unfavorable  that  it  was  deemed 
imprudent  to  attempt  the  crossing  of  Melville  Bay. 
Hovey,  Comer,  and  Jot  had  returned  to  sp>end  the  winter 
with  me  at  Borup  Lodge.  Ekblaw  and  Doctor  Hunt 
would  continue  at  our  sub-station  at  Umanak  until  an 
opp>ortunity  presented  itself  of  proceeding  southward  by 
mail-teams  in  December. 

Rasmussen,  in  company  with  his  assistant,  Mr  Koch, 
a  botanist,  and  Ekblaw,  left  Etah  on  the  9th  to  return 
to  Umanak. 

Once  more  the  lodge  seemed  to  awaken  from*-its 
lethargy  and  take  on  an  air  of  cheerfulness.  We  settled 
down  for  our  fourth  and  last  year,  in  many  ways  the 
happiest  of  them  all.  New  faces,  new  stories,  untried 
sources  of  information.  Doctor  Hovey  never  revealed 
his  regret  at  having  ventured  into  the  North,  nor  his 


AN   ICE-COLD   BATH   HAS  NO   TERRORS   WHATEVER  FOR  NANNOOK 


HE    VERY    KINDLY    ASCENDED    THE    BERG    TO    BE    PHOTOGRAPHED 


1916]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  271 

keen  disappointment  at  the  non-arrival  of  the  second 
relief-ship.  He  was  content  to  bide  his  time  and  look 
and  hope  for  the  best. 

And  equally  philosophical  was  Capt.  George  Comer, 
a  man  of  wide  experience  in  both  northern  and  southern 
waters.  He  was  there,  and  why  not  make  the  best  of 
it.?*  His  songs  of  the  sea,  which  we  heard  daily,  and  his 
experiences  in  the  Strait  of  Magellan,  at  Desolation 
Island  and  at  Hudson  Bay,  often  but  not  too  often 
narrated,  were  a  never-failing  source  of  entertainment. 
Physically  strong,  energetic,  and  willing,  he  proved  of 
great  help  to  me  in  many  ways  during  the  year.  He 
insisted  upon  being  held  resp>onsible  for  certain  duties 
at  Etah,  such  as  keeping  our  big  tank  well  supplied  with 
ice  for  drinking  and  wash  water;  taking  all  meteorologi- 
cal observations  during  the  day,  tidal  observations  dur- 
ing the  spring,  and  other  similar  duties.  All  the  work 
I  assigned  to  him  was  dismissed  completely  from  my 
mind.     I  knew  it  would  be  done  faithfully  and  well. 

During  the  darkening  and  shortening  of  the  fall 
days  we  were  busily  occupied  in  securing  meat  for  the 
winter — walrus,  seal,  ptarmigan,  ducks,  guillemots,  and 
Arctic  hare.  We  placed  thermometers  upon  Thermom- 
eter Hill  at  an  altitude  of  1,100  feet,  and  visited  them 
religiously  every  Sunday  until  darkness  would  no  longer 
I>ermit  a  reading.  A  line  of  soundings  was  carried 
throughout  the  length  of  Alida  Lake,  the  greatest  depth 
proving  to  be  eighty-two  and  a  half  feet.  To  insure  a 
good  water-supply,  four  icebergs  were  moored  to  the 
beach  in  front  of  our  door,  to  remain  there  until  frozen 
in  for  the  winter. 

Clad  in  long-legged  rubber  boots  and  with  long- 
handled  dipper  and  net.  Doctor  Hovey  could  be  seen 


272      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Oct. 

every  day  uf>on  the  shore,  constantly  adding  to  our 
zoological  collection.  The  sea  was  teeming  with  life; 
especially  evident  during  the  evening,  when  the  waters, 
if  agitated,  emitted  a  blaze  of  phosphorescent  light. 
To  our  surprise,  we  found  clams  all  along  the  shore, 
and  we  even  discovered  a  si)ecies  of  cuttlefish  at  the 
head  of  the  harbor. 

With  the  formation  of  the  harbor  ice,  which  pre- 
vented zoological  work.  Doctor  Hovey  bravely  attacked 
the  installation  of  the  seismograph,  generously  loaned  to 
the  expedition  by  Georgetown  University.  Although  it 
was  much  different  from  that  found  at  the  American 
Museum,  it  was  successfully  assembled  and  operated 
throughout  the  year. 

By  October  10th  our  thermometers  were  registering 
zero  weather.  Sea  ice  had  formed,  offering  us  a  hard, 
level  sledging  surface  up  and  down  the  fiord,  enabling 
the  Eskimo  women  to  set  and  attend  their  fox-traps. 

On  October  22d  our  Eskimos  returned  from  the  an- 
nual caribou-hunt  throughout  the  region  extending  from 
Etah  to  the  Humboldt  Glacier.  Forty-five  skins  were 
secured.  Two  facts  of  interest  were  reported — no  young 
caribou  whatever  and  tracks  of  wolves  everywhere. 
This  would  indicate  that  a  large  band  of  white  wolves 
had  crossed  Smith  Sound  from  Ellesmere  Land  and 
were  following  the  herds  of  caribou  in  Greenland,  the 
young  being  the  first  to  fall  victims  to  the  ravenous  packs. 
A  number  of  caribou  were  discovered  sleeping  on  the 
ice  in  the  center  of  lakes,  probably  for  security  against 
the  attacks  of  wolves. 

On  November  23d  two  of  our  Eskimos  left  for  Umanak 
with  our  mail,  which  was  to  go  south  with  Hunt  and 
Ekblaw  on  the  December  moon. 


19161  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  273 

Many  of  our  friends  at  home  feared  that  we  were 
starving,  but  this  was  the  menu  served  upon  our  fourth 
Thanksgiving  Day  in  the  Arctic: 

Vegetable  soup 

Roast  haunch  of  caribou — StuflBng  with  brown  gravy 

Mashed  potatoes  String-beans 

Chocolate  frosted  cake  Fruit  cake 

Squash  pie  Mince  pie 

Doughnuts 

Coffee  Punch 

After  our  own  dinner,  seventeen  Eskimos  were  fed 
until  they  yelled,  "Enough!"  The  stomach  of  little 
nine-year-old  Megishoo  stuck  out  hard  and  round  as 
that  of  a  young  Filipino. 

With  the  cry  of,  "Sledges  coming!"  on  December  7th, 
came  the  surprise  of  the  year.  "A  big  ship  frozen  in  the 
ice  at  Umanak!"  We  ripped  off  eagerly  the  envelopes 
of  the  letters  from  Ekblaw  and  Hunt  to  learn  the  par- 
ticulars. The  ship  proved  to  be  the  Danmark,  from 
Copenhagen,  in  charter  by  the  American  Museum  to 
proceed  to  Etah  from  South  Greenland  to  convey  the 
members  and  collections  of  the  expedition  to  Sydney, 
Cape  Breton. 

Because  of  the  unfavorable  ice  conditions,  due  to  the 
lateness  of  the  season  (September  23d),  the  ship  had 
been  unable  to  proceed  beyond  Umanak,  and  had  gone 
into  winter  quarters.  Through  carelessness  or  misunder- 
standing, our  notification  of  her  arrival  had  been  de- 
layed by  at  least  a  month. 

The  relief  naturally  expected  that  up>on  receipt  of 
the  news  of  its  arrival  we  would  gladly  abandon  our 


274      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Dec. 

house  for  the  more  comfortable  quarters  of  the  ship, 
which  was  well  provisioned  for  thirty  men  until  Novem- 
ber 1, 1917.  Not  a  man  entertained  the  slightest  thought 
or  wish  of  doing  so.  Borup  Lodge,  reinforced  with  its 
thick  covering  of  snow  blocks,  was  warm  and  com- 
fortable, and  well  stocked  with  both  food  and  fuel  for 
a  year. 

Ekblaw  and  Hunt  were  both  anxious  to  proceed  south- 
ward by  dog-team  across  Melville  Bay,  being  very 
apprehensive  as  to  the  very  small  coal-supply  on  board 
ship,  stating  that  in  their  opinion  the  Danmark  would 
never  reach  Etah,  and,  if  she  did,  the  passage  home  would 
be  long  and  tedious  under  sails  alone. 

When  Ah-now-ka,  our  Eskimo  boy,  returned  from  his 
southern  trip  to  Umanak  with  our  mail,  to  my  surprise 
he  was  accompanied  by  a  sixteen-year-old  wife.  Eskimo 
marriages  are  generally  the  result  of  a  prearrangement  of 
the  parents,  when  the  future  man  and  wife  are  but 
nursing  babies  in  the  hood.  The  motive  undoubtedly 
is  kinship  and  positive  proof  of  the  strong  friendship 
between  the  two  families.  The  early  age  of  twelve,  at 
which  a  girl  is  generally  married,  may  be  explained  by 
the  fact  that  as  marriage  is  largely  a  matter  of  con- 
venience— never  of  love — a  man  is  in  need  of  some  one 
to  make  his  home  comfortable,  to  cook  his  food,  to  dress 
the  skins,  to  sew  his  clothing,  and  to  chew  his  boot  soles. 

It  is  a  common  practice  among  the  Smith  Sound 
Eskimos  for  a  girl  of  nine  and  ten  to  have  sexual  inta*- 
course;  possibly  the  early  marriage  may  be  the  design 
of  the  future  husband  to  prevent  this  by  claiming  the 
girl  as  his  own.  Henceforth  she  is  absolutely  under  the 
orders  of  her  master,  and  is  loaned  and  interchanged  for 
favors  received. 


1916]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  275 

Although  married  at  twelve,  a  girl  is  unable  to  bear 
children  until  she  has  attained  the  age  of  eighteen.  I 
have  known  of  but  one  exception  to  this  statement. 
This  may  have  been  due  to  the  fact  that  the  mother 
revealed  traces  of  an  infusion  of  white  blood. 

It  was  the  gossip  of  the  tribe  eight  years  before  that 
Ah-now-ka  was  to  wed  the  girl  who  had  just  arrived  on 
his  sledge.  He  had  j>ersistently  declared,  however,  that 
he  did  not  want  her.  To  get  some  light  on  the  matter, 
and  not  caring  "to  admit  impediments  to  the  marriage 
of  true  minds,"  I  called  the  boy  in  and  solemnized  the 
union  with  the  following  colloquy: 

"Do  you  want  this  girl,  Ah-now-ka.'*" 

"Yes,  I  would  like  to  keep  her  if  I  may." 

"All  right.  You  may  have  my  photographic  dark- 
room." 

This  wedding  present  was  not  only  accepted  grate- 
fully by  the  couple,  who  were  "at  home"  every  hour  of 
the  day,  but  by  all  in  the  village,  who  called  at  once 
to  pay  their  respects  and  to  see  what  I  had  in  there. 

As  a  sequel  to  the  happy,  or  unhappy,  event,  we 
learned  in  a  few  weeks  that  the  young  lady  was  already 
married  to  a  young  man  down  the  line  and  that  Ah-now- 
ka  had  stolen  her! 

With  the  coming  and  going  of  the  Eskimos,  the 
measuring  and  photographing  of  the  visitors,  the  taking 
of  the  fourth  census  of  the  Smith  Sound  tribe,  the  com- 
piling of  an  Eskimo  dictionary  of  3,000  words,  and  the 
preparations  for  our  long  spring  trip,  the  winter  passed 
very  rapidly.  Now  and  then  an  incident  of  more  than 
ordinary  interest  occurred,  such  as  the  visit  of  a  white 
wolf  or  the  swallowing  of  a  galvanized-iron  ring  one  inch 
and  a  tenth  in  diameter  by  little  Megishoo.     She  was 


276      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Jan, 

playing  "angekok" — causing  the  ring  to  disapp>ear 
mysteriously.     It  did,  very  efiFectively. 

On  the  morning  of  our  fourth  and  last  Christmas, 
we  each  found  beneath  our  plate  the  only  gift  of  the 
day — an  English  sovereign,  presented  by  Doctor  Hovey. 
It  was  appreciated  and  valued  as  a  memento  of  our  life 
in  the  far  North;  and  could  only  be  used  in  this  way. 
In  that  country  money  loses  its  value  and  is  consigned 
to  the  scrap-heap. 

Roast  venison,  mashed  potatoes,  turnips,  hot  biscuits, 
coflFee  jelly,  tapioca  custard,  fancy  cakes,  cofiFee,  and 
cigars  made  up  the  list  of  good  things  set  down  before 
us  at  three  in  the  afternoon. 

We  were  astonished,  as  well  as  chagrined,  to  be  in- 
formed, on  the  morning  of  January  8th,  that  there  had 
been  a  total  eclipse  of  the  moon  from  one  o'clock  to 
four.  The  Eskimos  were  all  awake  and  enjoying  the 
phenomenon,  while  the  white  men  were  sound  asleep, 
ignorant  of  the  whole  affair.  We  felt  that  the  Eskimos 
had  stolen  a  march  on  us. 

Six  sledges  arrived  on  January  11th,  bringing  us  news 
of  Ekblaw's  and  Hunt's  departure  on  December  15th, 
and  also  news  of  the  great  world  war.  We  learned  that 
Lord  Kitchener  and  his  staff  had  been  drowned,  that  a 
big  naval  engagement  had  taken  place  off  the  coast  of 
Denmark,  that  a  German  submarine  had  reached  Balti- 
more, that  von  Moltke  was  dead,  and  that  the  United 
States  had  acquired,  by  purchase,  the  Danish  West 
Indies,  conceding  to  Denmark  at  this  time  the  right  to 
control  all  of  Greenland.  The  last  piece  of  news  was  of 
the  highest  interest  to  our  Eskimos,  hitherto  free  and  inde- 
pendent, henceforth  subject  to  the  control  of  a  foreign 
nation. 


19171  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE      *  277 

One  letter  was  of  especial  interest.  It  was  from 
Stefansson,  the  Canadian  explorer.  He  had  gone  into 
the  Arctic  by  way  of  the  Pacific  and  Bering  Strait;  I 
by  way  of  the  Atlantic  and  BaflSn  Bay.  Our  trails 
crossed  in  the  far  North.  He  followed  mine  and  came 
to  our  snow  house  on  the  southern  shore  of  EUef  Ringnes 
Island,  where  he  found  and  read  my  record. 

His  letter  was  written  from  the  Bay  of  Mercy  in 
Bank's  Land,  distant  from  Borup  Lodge  eight  hundred 
miles.  To  reach  me  it  had  traveled  more  than  ten  thou- 
sand miles,  almost  in  a  complete  circle,  starting  with 
dog-team  for  Canada  and  America,  crossing  the  ocean 
to  Denmark,  thence  to  North  Greenland,  and  to  Etah 
by  power-boat. 

The  rejwrt  of  a  strange  ship  working  northward 
through  the  ice  near  Tasiusak  led  to  all  kinds  of  con- 
jectures as  to  her  identity.  According  to  the  native 
rej)ort:  "Her  captain  was  in  a  glass  house  on  deck. 
He  pointed  northward  and  said,  'Cape  York.'**  This 
led  us  to  believe  that  the  ship  was  an  American  yacht 
with  a  pilot-house.  Since  I  have  reached  home  I  have 
learned  that  the  unknown  was  Captain  Bernier,  the 
Canadian  explorer,  endeavoring  to  communicate  with 
us  at  Etah  with  the  possibility  of  eflFecting  our  release. 
With  no  reward  or  promise  of  reward,  he  had  gone  far 
out  of  his  way  to  render  what  aid  he  could. 

A  chance  remark  by  In-a-loo,  one  of  the  most  intelli- 
gent in  the  tribe,  was  interesting. 

"This  land  was  at  one  time  all  under  water." 

"Why  do  you  think  so?"  I  inquired. 

"There  are  clam-shells  high  up  on  the  hills  in  many 
places,  and  I  have  seen  north  of  Kab-loo-na-ding-me  the 
bones  of  a  large  whale  high  up  on  the  hill  above  the 


278      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Jan. 

water.  This  shows  that  at  one  time  this  was  all  sea 
bottom. 

"This  must  have  been  before  the  time  when  there 
was  only  one  man  and  one  woman.  It  is  strange  where 
they  came  from,  but  this  is  what  our  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers have  told  us.  We  can't  put  things  down  as  you 
do  on  paper.  What  we  learn  is  told  to  us  by  our  elders, 
and  then  we  tell  others." 

"Do  you  remember,  In-a-loo,  the  white  men  who 
lived  in  a  little  house  over  at  Kab-loo-na-ding-me  when 
you  were  a  little  girl.'*"  I  inquired,  referring  to  the  Polaris 
Expedition  of  1872. 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "I  remember  it  well.  The  ship  was 
on  the  shore,  but  the  men  lived  in  a  small  wooden  house, 
to  which  we  often  went  and  stayed  for  days  at  a  time. 
One  of  the  men  was  large  and  fat,  and  all  had  beards 
which  they  cut  with  scissors.  When  the  men  went 
away  in  two  boats  in  the  spring,  many  things  were  left 
on  the  shore  and  in  the  house.  We  found  many  books 
packed  in  boxes,  and  in  them  I  first  saw  pictures;  they 
frightened  me  so  that  I  ran  away.  I  remember  a  pict- 
ure of  a  dog  and  of  a  man.  One  box  was  large,  with  a 
cover  all  of  glass;  this  was  full  of  books.  The  Eskimos 
broke  this  glass  into  pieces  and  used  it  as  windows  for 
their  snow  houses  and  igloos.  The  ship  at  this  time 
was  nearly  full  of  ice.  After  the  men  went  away  she 
drifted  off  into  deep  water  and  sank  just  insid^  of 
Littleton  Island. 

"  Wlien  a  new  ship  (the  relief -ship)  came  that  summer, 
we  were  very  much  afraid.  The  white  men  said, 
'WTiere  is  the  ship?'  We  replied,  'She  is  there  on  the 
bottom.*  They  said,  'You  are  lying!'  The  ship  an- 
chored off  the  north  end  of  Littleton  Island.     Twice  it 


1917]  ALONE  AT  BORUP  LODGE  279 

steamed  away  toward  Cape  Sabine,  but  came  back  and 
anchored  south  of  Cape  Ohisen.  We  told  them  where 
the  white  men's  house  was  and  they  went  there.  We 
were  all  very  much  afraid  because  we  had  taken  so  many 
things.  You  see,  our  men  wanted  the  wood  for  sledges. 
Some  of  the  people  were  so  afraid  that  they  walked  to 
Anoritok  when  they  saw  the  ship  coming  back.** 

This  is  the  Eskimo  woman's  account  of  the  Polaris 
Expedition  under  the  command  of  Capt.  Charles  Francis 
Hall  on  its  retreat  south  in  the  fall  of  1872,  after  an  un- 
successful attempt  to  reach  the  Pole.  The  men  who 
retreated  south  in  two  open  boats  in  the  spring  were 
picked  up  in  MeWille  Bay  by  the  Scotch  whaler  Raven- 
scraig,  and  were  returned  home  in  various  ships  by  way 
cf  Europe. 

When  hunting  walrus  with  the  Eskimos,  they  have 
often  pointed  out  the  location  of  the  old  Polaris,  now 
resting  upon  the  bottom. 

On  March  5th  fifteen  Eskimos  arrived  from  the 
south.  One  of  them  brought  a  letter  from  Ekblaw, 
announcing  his  safe  arrival  at  Upernavik,  but  in  a  crip- 
pled condition  because  of  two  badly  frosted  toes.  He 
was  very  much  in  doubt  about  being  able  to  reach 
Holstensborg  in  time  for  the  steamer.  If  he  should  fail 
in  doing  this,  then  he  planned  to  await  the  relief -ship  at 
Godhaven,  where  we  expected  to  call  on  our  way  south. 

Everything  was  now  in  full  swing  for  the  departure 
both  of  Doctor  Hovey  and  of  myself;  he  to  proceed 
across  Melville  Bay  by  dog-team  to  the  ports  in  South 
Greenland,  where  he  could  embark  on  a  steamer  for 
Europe,  and  I  for  the  exploration  and  survey  of  the 
stretch  of  coast  between  Cape  Sabine  and  Clarence 
Head. 


280     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [Mar. 

Doctor  Hovey  was  apparently  in  the  best  of  health, 
for  he  had  been  well  clothed  and  well  fed  throughout 
the  winter.  He  had  religiously  taken  his  one  hour's 
exercise  every  day,  regardless  of  the  severity  of  the 
weather.  Now  that  the  sun  was  high  and  the  seals 
were  up  on  the  ice,  furnishing  plenty  of  good  fresh  meat 
for  dogs  and  man,  there  was  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  take  the  long  trip  in  safety.  Koo-la-ting-wa,  one 
of  the  best  dog-drivers  in  the  North  and  a  man  in  whom 
we  had  absolute  faith,  was  secured  by  promises  of  a 
liberal  reward  for  the  important  task.  He  selected  as 
his  assistants  his  own  son,  Ee-meen-ya  and  Tau-ching- 
wa.  This  southern  division  was  fitted  out  with  tea, 
biscuit,  pemmican,  and  everything  absolutely  needed 
for  the  work.  Hovey  left  Etah  on  March  24th,  and 
reached  New  York  the  latter  part  of  August,  upon  the 
very  day  that  we  arrived  at  Sydney,  Cape  Breton. 


XIV 

CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD 

AFTER  three  years'  work  in  the  Arctic,  with  Etah 
-^^  as  our  base,  what  was  there  left  for  us  to  do? 
The  primary  object  of  our  expedition  had  been  accom- 
plished in  1914;  Ekblaw  had  explored  the  Greely  Fiord 
and  Lake  Hazen  region  in  1915;  the  region  north  of  the 
Parry  Islands  had  been  covered  in  1916.  Running  my 
eye  over  the  map,  ever  searching  for  a  blank  spot  or  a 
dotted  coast-line,  I  always  returned  to  the  Peary  Channel 
as  the  most  important  bit  of  work  to  be  done  within 
the  bounds  of  the  meager  resources  left  to  us  after 
8,000  miles  of  sledge-work.  The  few  remaining  biscuit, 
pemmican,  and  sledge  material  had  been  carefully  hus- 
banded for  future  work  against  the  non-arrival  of  the 
ship.  My  Eskimos  were  still  faithful,  and  willing  to  go 
with  me  to  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

I  had  not  forgotten  the  day  when,  on  our  way  to  the 
northern  end  of  Greenland,  we  passed  the  mouth  of 
that  channel  and  saw  its  great  white  highway  stretching 
into  the  east  to  merge  into  the  distant  sky-line.  How  I 
longed  to  turn  my  team  and  follow  it  to  its  end!  But 
my  plans  to  do  so  on  the  return  came  to  naught. 

To  my  disapjx)intment,  Rasmussen,  in  September, 
1916,  announced  his  intention  of  completing  his  work 


282     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE   WHITE   NORTH     [Mar. 

in  the  Peary  Channel  which  he  had  begun  in  1912. 
The  rules  of  Arctic  work  demanded  that  I  sacrifice  all 
in  his  favor,  and  look  elsewhere  for  a  rounding  out  of 
our  four  years'  work. 

Browsing  among  my  Arctic  books  a  few  weeks  later, 
the  following  quotation  from  a  paper  read  by  Sir  Clem- 
ents Markham  before  the  Royal  Geographical  Society 
attracted  my  attention: 

Next  to  northern  Greenland,  the  most  Interesting  part  of  the  un- 
known region  is  the  land  on  the  western  side  of  the  northern  part 
of  Baffin  Bay,  between  Smith  Sound  and  Jones  Sound,  and  extend- 
ing along  the  Jones  Sound  to  the  west  and  north.  It  was  named 
EUesmere  Land  by  Sir  Edward  Inglefield,  who  saw  it  from  the  deck 
of  the  Isabella  in  1852.  It  is  called  Oo-ming-man  (the  land  of  the 
musk-oxen)  by  the  Eskimos.  No  one,  so  far  as  we  know,  has  ever 
landed  between  Jones  Sound  and  Smith  Sound. 

Since  the  above  was  written,  Mr.  H.  G.  Bryant, 
president  of  the  Geographical  Society  of  Philadelphia, 
had  landed  upon  this  coast  at  Cape  Faraday  and  at 
Clarence  Head,  when  in  charge  of  the  Peary  Relief 
Expedition  of  1892. 

For  three  years,  from  the  high  hills  surrounding 
Foulke  Fiord,  I  had  watched  the  sun  rolling  along  over 
those  snow-capped  mountains  to  the  west;  had  tried 
to  penetrate  with  my  glasses  those  deep  fiords;  and  had 
followed  the  coast  far  to  the  south  to  the  vanishing- 
j)oint.  I  decided  that  this  should  be  my  fourth  year's 
work — the  exploration  and  survey  of  the  EUesmere 
Land  coast  from  Cape  Sabine  to  Clarence  Head. 

The  stretch  of  coast-line,  as  laid  down  upK)n  the 
latest  maps,  is  quite  inaccurate,  due  to  the  fact  that  the 
information  was  acquired  from  a  ship's  deck  several 
miles  from  the  shore.     On  account  of  the  prevailing 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        283 

deep  snows  of  spring,  no  one  had  attempted  to  pass  from 
point  to  point  with  dog-team  in  the  attempt  to  survey 
the  coast.  It  was  by  far  the  most  important  task 
within  our  reach,  and  I  decided  to  attempt  it  with  the 
help  of  E-took-a-shoo,  Arklio,  and  Ak-jx>od-a-shah-o. 
We  still  had  biscuit,  i>emmican,  and  oil  enough  for  the 
work.  This  could  be  supplemented,  I  hoped,  with  seal 
and  polar  bear  killed  on  the  trip. 

Sunday,  March  25,  1917,  saw  four  heavily  loaded 
sledges  and  forty-two  dogs  dashing  out  of  Etah.  Six 
hundred  pounds  on  a  125-p>ound  sledge,  and  a  180- 
pound  man  on  top  of  that — a  total  of  905  pounds — was 
a  heavy  load  for  my  ten  dogs.  They  had  been  well 
fed,  however,  and  were  in  excellent  spirits,  as  their 
tightly  curled,  bushy  tails  showed.  Rounding  Sunrise 
Point,  I  pictured  Doctor  Hayes  and  his  men,  fifty-six 
years  before,  laboriously  pulling  their  boats  northward 
over  the  ice  in  search  of  an  open  Polar  Sea.  How  per- 
sistent that  belief  was  in  the  minds  of  scientific  men! 

U{X)n  opening  my  precious  four-year  biscuit  that  night 
at  *'Kab-loo-na-ding-me,"  I  discovered,  to  my  dismay, 
a  mass  of  mold,  and  immediately  reproached  myself  for 
not  making  an  examination  during  the  winter.  A  hasty 
removal  of  the  top  layer  disclosed,  to  my  joy,  that  the 
remainder  was  edible,  while  very  musty;  yet  in  com- 
parison with  none  at  all,  it  was  of  priceless  value. 

At  thirty-six  below  zero,  the  sledges  dragged  hard 
over  young  ice  covered  with  an  inch  of  granular  snow. 
Sand  could  hardly  have  been  worse.  In  1914  we  did 
in  three  hours  what  in  1917  we  took  a  day  and  a  half 
to  accomplish.     The  Arctic  is  full  of  disappointments. 

As  we  were  drinking  our  tea  at  Ka-mowitz,  a  party 
of  nine  Eskimos  drove  past  on  their  way  to  the  musk-ox 

19 


284     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mab. 

grounds  far  to  the  west  in  Eureka  Sound.  They  had 
nothing  on  their  sledges  but  a  few  gallons  of  oil  and 
several  pieces  of  frozen  meat — real  explorers!  Born  in 
Greenland,  they  were  now  going  back  over  the  old 
migration  trail  of  their  ancestors  of  centuries  ago.  How 
they  do  like  to  travel,  see  new  lands  and  strange 
things. 

An  incident  in  the  crossing  of  Smith  Sound  the  follow- 
ing day  is  an  illustration  of  what  often  happens  in  Arctic 
work.  We  were  about  five  miles  from  land  and  headed 
for  Victoria  Head  when  I  halted  my  team  to  untangle 
the  traces,  a  rather  disagreeable  task  and  one  which  it 
is  necessary  to  perform  about  every  hour  or  so,  according 
to  the  condition  of  the  ice.  Arklio  was  about  fifty  yards 
in  advance,  and  Ak-j>ood-a-shah-o  not  that  distance  in 
the  rear.  As  I  gathered  the  traces  to  ring  them  to  the 
bridle,  a  gust  of  wind  and  a  flurry  of  snow  caused  me 
to  look  up — my  men  were  out  of  sight!  Within  a  few 
minutes  it  was  a  blizzard;  the  drift  so  blinding  that 
I  could  scarcely  see  the  tails  of  my  dogs.  Urging  them 
to  greater  speed  and  running  behind  the  sledge,  I  en- 
deavored to  overtake  my  men.  At  the  end  of  fifteen 
minutes,  it  was  clearly  evident  that  I  had  lost  the  trail 
and  had  passed  my  party,  whether  north  or  south  I 
did  not  know. 

Setting  a  course  by  the  wind,  I  headed  south  for  the 
op>en  water  which  is  always  present  between  Littleton 
Island  and  Cape  Sabine,  intending  to  follow  its  edge 
west  on  the  thin  ice,  as  the  quickest  and  most  direct 
way  to  the  western  shore.  A  gleam  of  sun  through 
the  drift  and  a  glance  at  my  watch  checked  up  my 
points  of  compass  and  acted  as  a  guard  against  a  sudden 
change  of   wind,   a  circumstance   which  has  resulted 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        285 

disastrously  to  many  a  man  and  many  a  ship  in  Baffin 
Bay,  where  the  sluggish  compass  can  hardly  be  trusted. 

Broken  and  badly  cracked  thin  ice  forced  me  to  the 
north,  where  I  found  such  an  attractive-looking  snow- 
bank that  I  was  tempted  to  burrow  in  for  the  night- — a 
very  comfortable  home,  when  furnished  with  a  good 
caribou  sleeping-bag,  a  box  of  biscuit,  a  six-pound 
can  of  pemmican,  a  Primus  stove,  and  plenty  of  oil; 
all  these  I  had  on  my  sledge.  The  thought,  however, 
of  my  men  arriving  on  the  western  shore  ahead  of  me, 
and  their  consequent  anxiety  over  my  absence,  spurred 
me  on. 

One  incident  of  the  day  amused  me.  Through  a  rift 
in  the  drift  about  200  yards  away  there  appeared  to  be 
a  number  of  dogs  and  sledges.  The  dogs  were  asleep; 
the  sledges  were  partly  buried  in  the  snow.  Where 
were  the  men.'*  Standing  ujwn  my  load,  I  yelled  my 
loudest  and  vigorously  waved  both  arms  without  de- 
tecting the  slightest  sign  of  movement.  Upon  a  closer 
examination,  the  vision  proved  to  be  dirt-covered  ice 
only  a  few  yards  away 

At  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  I  crossed  the  trail  of 
six  sledges  going  a  little  north  of  west — the  sledges  which 
had  passed  our  camp  the  day  before.  The  wind  had 
now  abated  and  there  were  evidences  of  clearing  weather. 

Within  a  half-hour  black  dots  could  be  seen  in  the 
distance  in  addition  to  the  faint  outlines  of  two  snow 
houses.  Upon  my  arrival  with  clothes  and  sledge  white 
with  snow,  amazement  was  depicted  upon  every  coun- 
tenance. Although  they  were  only  one  hour  ahead  of 
me,  they  had  experienced  no  wind  or  snow  whatever. 
How  they  laughed  up>on  learning  that  I  had  lost  my  men. 

In  the  mean  time,  Arklio,  E-took-a-shoo,  and  Ak-pood- 


286     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mab. 

a-shah-o  were  quartering  the  ice  of  Smith  Sound  in 
search  of  me  and  my  trail.  There  was  no  thought  of 
desertion.  One  walked  far  to  the  north;  another,  south; 
and  the  third  remained  with  the  sledges  on  the  trail, 
firing  his  rifle  every  few  minutes  to  guide  his  companions 
back,  and  with  the  hope  that  I  might  hear  it. 

Ak-pood-a-shah-o  reported  my  tracks  far  to  the 
south,  going  west.  They  at  once  drove  on,  and  arrived 
at  our  camp  about  seven  in  the  evening. 

On  the  morning  of  the  28th  we  awoke  to  the  rustling 
of  drift  over  and  around  our  snow  house  A  smother  of 
snow!  Dogs,  sledges,  houses,  buried  in  drift!  The 
thermometer  was  only  five  below  zero  and  the  wind 
southeast.  We  knew  that  such  a  storm  might  continue 
for  days.  E-took-a-shoo  built  a  long  snow  entrance, 
terminating  in  a  kind  of  storm-porch,  thus  keeping  the 
drift  away  from  the  door. 

I  visited  the  snow  houses  of  the  musk-ox  party,  taking 
with  me  as  a  donation  a  six-pound  can  of  pemmican, 
for  which  I  received  walrus  and  bear  meat  in  return. 

Checkers,  cards,  stories,  and  tobacco,  with  which  I 
always  provided  the  Eskimos,  shortened  many  of  those 
long  hours  of  the  28th,  29th,  and  30th.  Signs  of  clear- 
ing weather  at  noon  quickened  our  packing  and  our  de- 
parture west,  very  happy  to  leave  the  middle  of  Smith 
Sound  for  the  shelter  of  the  big  hills  of  Ellesmere  Land. 

Open  water  extending  north  of  Cape  Sabine  compelled 
a  detour  well  up  into  Buchanan  Bay  and  a  passage  sou{h 
by  way  of  Rice  Strait,  in  the  middle  of  which  we  camped. 
Above  our  igloo  on  the  summit  of  a  knoll  could  be  seen 
the  cairn  of  Sverdrup  of  the  Fram  and  the  wooden  cross 
in  memory  of  his  doctor,  Svendson,  who  was  buried 
here  through  a  hole  in  the  ice.    Stretched  along  the 


SUNSET   OVER   CAPE   SABINE 


GLACIER   A   FEW  MILES  NORTH   OF  CAPE   YORK 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        287 

shore  was  a  cable,  which  was  undoubtedly  the  mooring- 
line  of  the  famous  old  ship  of  Nansen. 

On  reaching  Cape  Herschel,  we  were  again  blocked 
by  open  water,  and  we  turned  inland  among  the  hills. 
Hitching  twenty  dogs  to  a  sledge,  we  forced  our  teams 
through  frozen  gravel  and  stones,  nearly  ruining  our 
steel  runners. 

About  two  miles  southwest  of  this  pass,  I  searched  the 
land  carefully  for  the  remains  of  Greely's  first  camp  on 
his  famous  retreat  of  1883.  His  accurate  description  in 
Three  Years  of  Arctic  Service  enabled  me  to  recognize 
the  exact  location,  and  within  a  few  minutes  we  found 
the  crumbling  walls  of  the  three  stone  huts.  Here 
Greely  and  his  men  landed,  following  their  retreat  of 
270  miles  from  their  headquarters  in  Lady  Franklin 
Bay.  Hoping  against  hope  and  with  only  thirty-five 
days*  provisions,  they  began  the  construction  of  their 
huts.  A  few  days  later  Rice  returned  from  Cape  Sabine, 
whither  he  had  been  sent  in  the  hope  of  finding  a  cache 
of  food  left  by  the  relief-ship  of  1882.  He  had  found 
the  food  and  a  note  stating  that  the  relief -ship  of  1883 
had  been  crushed  and  that  the  men  had  departed  south 
in  open  boats.  Greely  decided  at  once  to  move  his  camp 
to  the  vicinity  of  the  cache  at  Cape  Sabine. 

We  were  the  first  to  examine  the  ruins  of  these  houses 
since  the  departure  of  the  ill-fated  party  in  October, 
1883.  A  removal  of  the  snow  in  the  interior  revealed 
the  stern  of  a  large  boat,  with  the  ring-bolt  intact,  and 
the  very  section  of  the  narwhal  horn  found  and  de- 
scribed by  Greely. 

April  1st  presented  us  with  a  mixture  of  both  good  and 
bad  luck.  Cape  Isabella  was  absolutely  impassable. 
Exposed  as  it  is  to  violent  winds,  swirling  tides,  and  cur- 


«88      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [April 

rents,  it  acts  as  a  buttress  against  which  great  fields  of 
drift  ice  come  smashing  and  cracking  over  the  ice-foot, 
raising  a  broken,  chaotic  mass  sixty  feet  high.  A  view 
from  the  summit  on  the  south  side  of  the  cape  was  not 
a  bit  encouraging — open  water  everywhere. 

Years  ago  I  had  read  that  the  British  North  Pole 
Expedition  of  1875-76  had  landed  here  and  left  a  whale- 
boat,  built  a  cairn,  and  deposited  a  record.  I  thorough- 
ly examined  every  nook,  cleft,  and  crevice  in  hopes  of 
finding  this  forty-two-year-old  boat.  That  night  I 
learned  from  one  of  my  boys  that  this  boat  had  been 
found  and  taken  away  by  the  Eskimos  many  years 
ago. 

Where  were  the  cairn  and  records?  Capt.  Sir  George 
Nares  says,  in  his  Voyage  to  the  Polar  Sea: 

Commander  Markham  landed  in  a  small  bay  on  the  south  side 
of  the  extreme  point  of  the  cape.  After  an  extremely  rough  scram- 
ble up  one  of  the  guUies,  a  cairn  was  erected  on  the  outer  spur  of 
Cape  Isabella,  700  feet  above  the  water-line,  a  cask  for  letters  and 
a  few  cases  of  preserved  meat  being  hidden  away  on  a  lower  point, 
about  300  feet  high,  magnetic  west  of  the  cairn. 

The  gullies  were  filled  with  hard,  compacted  snow, 
rendering  the  ascent  difficult  and  dangerous.  Noting 
that  my  Eskimos  lacked  enthusiasm  over  the  prospec- 
tive journey,  I  sent  them  back  to  camp.  In  about  an 
hoiu*  I  reached  the  summit,  and  there  I  found  the  cairn. 
I  rolled  away  stone  after  stone,  removed  the  snow  care- 
fully, and  examined  the  ground — not  a  trace  of  a  record, 
I  followed  carefully  the  steps  in  the  snowbank  cut  on 
the  ascent  to  the  ice-foot  below. 

"Now  for  the  cask,"  thought  I  to  myself  as  I  headed 
west  along  the  foot  of  the  bluff.  Climbing  to  the  three- 
hundred-foot  level,  I  scanned  the  rocks  carefully,  finally 


19171      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        289 

locating  a  barrel  with  the  head  marked  "Alert."  Within 
the  barrel  was  a  copi>er  tube  containing  two  records 
written  by  Captain  Nares,  one  of  which  read  as  follows; 

Arctic  Expedition 
H.M.S.  AleH 

Her  Majesty's  ships  Alert  and  Discovery  here  on  their  way  south 
to  Port  Foulke.  The  AleH  wintered  in  Latitude  82°  27'  N.,  Longi- 
tude 61°  22'  W.,  inside  grounded  ice.  The  Discovery  wintered  in  a 
sheltered  harbor  in  Latitude  81°  44'  N.,  Longitude  65°  30'  W. 

The  sledge  crews  of  the  Alert,  after  a  severe  journey  over  the  ice, 
succeeded  in  attaining  Latitude  83°  30'  N.,  and  the  coast-line  from 
the  winter  quarters  of  the  Alert  to  the  northward  and  westward  was 
explored  to  Latitude  82°  23'  N.,  Longitude  84°  26'  W.,  Cape  Colum- 
bia, the  northernmost  cape,  being  in  Latitude  83°  7'  N.,  Longitude 
70°  30'  W. 

Sledge  parties  from  the  Discovery  explored  the  north  coast  of 
Greenland  to  Lat.  82°  21'  N.,  Long.  52°  W.  (approximately),  a  dis- 
tance of  70  miles  beyond  Repulse  Harbor. 

No  land  was  sighted  to  the  northward  of  the  above  explorations 
except  a  few  small  islands  at  the  extreme  of  the  Greenland  coast 
explored. 

Lady  Franklin  Sound  was  explored  by  the  Discovery  and  was 
foimd  to  run  S.  W.  65  miles,  and  terminated  in  two  small  bays;  also 
Peterman's  Fiord  for  19  miles,  and  was  then  found  to  be  impass- 
able for  sledges,  owing  to  glacier  ice. 

A  seam  of  coal  25  yards  long,  22  feet  thick,  was  found  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  Discovery's  Winter  Quarters. 

Employed  in  sledge  traveling.     Foiu-  deaths  have  occurred: 

Neils  C.  Peterson,  Literpreter,  at  winter  quarters  on  the  14th 
May,  from  the  effects  of  a  severe  frost  bite  (which  necessitated  a 
part  of  each  foot  being  amputated)  followed  by  exhaustion  and 
scorbutic  taint. 

H.M.S.  Alert. — George  Porter,  Gunner,  R.N.  on  the  8th  June  of 
scurvy  and  general  debility,  when  absent  on  a  sledge  journey,  and 
was  buried  in  the  floe  in  Lat.  82°  41'  N. 

H.M.S.  Discovery. — James  I.  Hand,  A.B.  of  scurvy  on  the  18th 
June  and  Charles  W.  Paul,  A.B.  of  sciu-vy  on  the  29th  of  June;  both 
biuied  in  Polaris  Bay. 

The  ice  in  the  Polar  Sea  broke  up  on  the  20th  day  of  July,  and  on 
the  31st  the  Alert  left  her  Winter  Quarters,  and  on  the  12th  of  August 


290      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aprii. 

joined  the  Discovery.    Both  ships  left  "Discovery  Bay"  on  the  20th 
day  of  August  and  proceeded  south. 
All  well. 

We  are  homeward  bound  with  very  little  ice  in  sight.  We  shall 
call  at  Disco,  but  not  at  Littleton  Island  or  Port  Foulke. 

G.  S.  Nabes, 

Captain  R.N. 
Commanding  Arctic  Expedition. 

In  the  afternoon  I  returned  to  the  locaHty  for  a  further 
examination,  taking  my  Eskimo  boys  with  me.  Nothing 
could  escape  their  sharp  eyes.  Within  a  few  minutes 
following  our  arrival  E-took-a-shoo  dug  out  of  the  snow 
a  tin  wrapped  in  heavy  sail-cloth  containing  two  letters 
for  Captain  Nares  and  one  for  Captain  Stephenson. 


Pandora,  August  2Jfih  midnight  1876. 
Dear  Captain  Nares: — 

On  our  previous  visit  here — Aug.  6th,  1876 — ^we  were  blown  off 
by  a  gale  and  drift  ice,  and  have  ever  since  that  date  been  attempt- 
ing to  regain  the  cape;  a  solid  pack  of  drift  ice  extending  from  Cape 
Dunsterville  on  the  west  shore  to  Cairn  Point  on  the  east  shore 
preventing  our  reaching  within  10  miles  of  Cape  Isabella. 

I  have  tried  to  get  northward,  but  have  not  been  able  to  reach 
beyond  Cape  Paterson  on  this  side,  or  Latitude  78°  45'  on  the  east 
side. 

On  August  6th  our  landing  party  were  unable  to  examine  the  pack- 
ages, and  we  were  thus  in  doubt  as  to  whether  they  were  your  dis- 
patches or  some  of  your  provisions,  and  hence  my  attempts  to 
regain  the  cape. 

FaiUng  in  our  repeated  attempts  to  regain  the  cape,  and  seeing 
no  prospect  of  our  doing  so  this  season,  I  landed  the  bidk  of  your 
letters  and  dispatches  on  the  lower  point  N.  N.  E.  (mag.)  from  your 
cairn  on  Littleton  Island  and  where  I  hope  they  will  be  even  more 
accessible  to  you  than  on  this  cape. 

After  a  heavy  southerly  gale  yesterday,  we  have  succeeded  in 
getting  through  the  S.  W.  pack,  and  if  I  succeed  in  getting  back 
into  clear  water,  I  proceed  homewards  at  the  end  of  this  month, 
having  cruised  here  all  the  navigable  season  in  the  event  of  your 
sending  a  boat  party  to  Littleton  Island. 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD         291 

Trusting  that  you  are  all  well  and  have  succeeded  in  your  arduous 
work.  Yours  truly, 

Allen  Yotjng. 
Landed  at  1  A.  M.  August  25,  and  on  examination  found  the  cask 
to  be  empty  and  the  cans  to  contain  preserved  meat.     They  will  be 
left  as  they  were  foimd. 

It  is  evident  no  sledge  party  has  visited  this  place. 

Charles  W.  Abbuthnot. 

An  interesting  letter,  showing  as  it  does  that  Captain 
Nares  had  been  here,  had  stood  within  twenty  feet  of 
his  mail,  and  had  failed  to  find  it. 

I  now  decided  to  return  to  Etah,  and,  if  Rasmussen 
had  not  arrived  on  his  way  northward,  I  would  then 
attempt  the  exploration  of  the  Peary  Channel. 

On  the  return  we  swung  up  into  Baird  Inlet  for  a  sur- 
vey of  its  unexplored  shores.  The  inner  reaches  of  this 
fiord  were  so  deep  in  snow  that  our  dogs  wallowed  up 
to  their  necks.  We  had  left  our  snow-shoes  at  the 
mouth  of  the  inlet,  so  we  found  it  imjwssible  to  leave 
the  sledges  and  thus  help  out  the  dogs.  We  had  no  tent 
and  the  snow  was  not  suitable  for  building  purposes. 
For  a  time  it  seemed  likely  that  we  were  to  sleep  in  the 
open  with  our  backs  against  our  sledges.  Finally 
Ark-pood-a-shah-o  discovered  a  mass  of  snow  somewhat 
different  in  its  appearance  from  its  surroundings;  this 
he  declared  to  be  an  avalanche  of  snow,  which  had 
shot  down  from  the  cliffs  above  with  such  force  that  the 
concussion  had  solidified  it  into  excellent  building 
material. 

The  shores  of  this  inlet  consist  of  a  series  of  beautiful 
glaciers,  many  of  which  I  named  after  my  fellow-workers, 
Ekblaw,  Tanquary,  Green,  Allen,  Hunt,  and  Small. 
Those  on  the  north  side  seemed  fairly  to  tumble  from 
the  snow-covered  heights  above  in  their  eagerness  to 


292      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE   WHITE  NORTH    [April 

reach  the  sea.  At  the  extreme  head,  a  glacier  recedes 
in  a  gentle  incline  straight  into  the  west  to  lose  its  out- 
lines in  the  blue  of  the  sky.  What  a  magnificent 
highway!  And  how  I  longed  for  time  to  go  on  and 
up  and  over  and  down  into  that  western  musk-ox 
country! 

Picking  up  our  loads  at  the  mouth  of  the  inlet,  we 
headed  north  for  the  pass  through  the  hills  of  Cape  Her- 
schel.  As  the  dogs,  dragging  their  heavy  loads,  started 
up  the  slope  with  ease,  I  thought  of  Rice,  Frederick,  and 
Lynn  of  the  Greely  party,  trying  in  vain  to  drag  their 
frozen  companion,  Elison,  up  over  the  hill  on  November 
10, 1883.  Here  they  camped  in  a  northerly  gale,  with  the 
temj>erature  at  twenty-two  below  zero,  while  Rice  hurried 
on  to  Camp  Clay  for  help. 

Not  only  were  Elison's  hands  and  feet  frozen,  but  his  face  was 
frozen  to  such  an  extent  that  there  was  but  little  semblance  of  hu- 
manity in  the  poor  fellow  as  he  was  dragged  through  the  narrow  door 
of  our  wretched  hut  that  Novembet  night.  He  begged  piteously 
for  death  the  first  week. — Greely. 

It  seems  fitting  that  this  pass  should  be  known  as  the 
Elison  Pass,  in  memory  of  the  man  who  suffered  so 
heroically  for  months  to  come,  and  who  was  courageous 
to  the  last. 

On  Friday,  April  6th,  North  Pole  Day,  we  camped  in 
Peary's  old  hut  at  Cape  Sabine.  With  a  heavy  wind 
and  drift,  and  the  thermometer  at  sixteen  below,  *we 
soon  despaired  of  ever  making  it  a  home,  even  with  three 
Primus  stoves  going  full  blast.  There  was  far  more 
prospect  of  comfort  in  walking  than  in  accepting  the 
hospitality  of  such  a  shack.  I  visited  and  photo- 
graphed the  English  cairn  of  1875  on  Brevoort  Island. 


1917]       CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        293 

Here  the  first  information  of  the  whereabouts  of  the 
Greely  party  was  found  by  Lieutenant  Taunt.  Return- 
ing, I  called  at  Stalknecht  Island  to  search  for  the  cairn 
in  which  Lieutenant  Harlow  also  found  a  record.  How 
thrilled  those  men  on  the  Thetis  must  have  been  upon 
observing  the  signal:  "Have  found  Greely *s  records; 
send  five  men"!  And  with  what  emotion  those  records 
were  read  in  the  ward-room!  And  with  what  anxiety 
Schley  signaled  full  speed  ahead  upon  learning  that 
"the  latest  date  borne  by  any  of  them  was  October 
21,  1883,  and  that  but  forty  days'  complete  rations 
were  left  to  live  upon" !  Historic  ground  .J*  Yes,  every- 
where! 

The  following  morning  we  rounded  the  cape  and 
sledged  up  the  coast  of  Bedford  Pirn  Island  to  the  Star- 
vation Camp  of  Greely.  Thirty-three  years  before  the 
Bear  and  the  Thetis,  under  the  command  of  Captain 
Schley,  had  steamed  along  the  same  coast.  Outlined 
against  the  sky  stood  a  man  feebly  waving  a  flag.  As 
the  steam-launch  reached  the  beach,  the  man  stumbled 
and  fell,  rose  to  his  feet,  and  fell  again.  Finally,  he 
clutched  the  bow  of  the  boat.  Seven  were  left  out  of 
twenty-five. 

I  walked  to  the  crest  of  Cemetery  Ridge,  and  there 
the  whole  picture  presented  itself  as  vividly  portrayed  by 
Greely  and  Schley.  Below  me  on  the  flat  stretch  was 
the  frozen  lake  from  which  the  party  obtained  water, 
and  just  beyond,  projecting  above  the  snow,  were  the 
outlines  of  the  rock  hut.  At  my  right,  in  the  lee  of  a 
ledge,  I  could  plainly  see  the  ring  of  rocks  which  held 
down  the  tent  of  the  dying  men. 

In  1909  I  visited  the  headquarters  of  this  expedition 
at  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  in  81°  44'  N.     The  house  and 


294     FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [April 

grounds  were  littered  with  equipment  and  i>ersonal  be- 
longings. Upon  the  page  of  an  almost  blank  note- 
book there  were  three  lines: 

Past,  Present,  and  Future. 

Dost  thou  remember  long,  long  ago 

Those  school-days  which  we  loved  so  well? 

Some  one  of  the  party,  longing  for  the  homeland, 
had  planned  to  write  something  of  his  past  life,  of  his 
present,  and  of  his  future.     Only  two  lines  of  his  past! 

Finding  a  school-book,  I  turned  back  the  cover  and 
read  on  the  fly-leaf: 

To  my  dear  father.  From  his  affectionate  son,  Harry  Kisling- 
bury.     May  God  be  with  you  and  return  you  safely  to  us. 

The  little  fellow's  prayer  was  not  answered.  His 
father.  Lieutenant  Kislingbury,  was  the  twelfth  to  die. 

We  arrived  at  Etah  on  the  9th.  Rasmussen  arrived 
on  the  10th.  To  my  astonishment,  although  about  to 
undertake  a  1,000-mile  trip  to  the  northern  end  of 
Greenland  and  return,  he  had  practically  no  oil,  very 
little  biscuit,  and  no  pemmican.  His  plan  to  live 
chiefly  on  the  country  and  cook  with  willow  roots  en- 
tailed so  much  suffering  and  danger  that  I  finally  per- 
suaded him  to  outfit  from  our  stores.  Thirty  gallons  of 
oil,  100  pounds  of  biscuit,  and  200  of  pemmican  could 
be  well  spared  to  a  man  who  had  aided  us  in  so  many 
ways.  *^ 

A  lack,  however,  of  an  indispensable  part  of  an  Arctic 
man's  equipment — snow-shoes — has  caused  me  serious 
apprehensions  as  to  the  safe  return  of  all  of  his  party. 
It  was  his  plan  to  follow  the  coast  northward  by  way  of 
Kane  Basin,  Kennedy  and  Robeson  Channel,  with  the 


THE    REMAINS    OF    THE    GREELY    STARVATION    HUT    AT    CAMP    SABINE 


PEARY  S  OLD   HUT  AT  CAPE  SABINE 
Headquarters  of  1900-02  North  Pole  Expedition. 


19171      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        i95 

Peary  Channel  and  Cape  Morris  Jesup  as  his  objective 
point,  returning  over  the  ice-cap  to  Etah  August  1st. 
His  party  consisted  of  two  white  men:  Koch,  geologist, 
and  Wulff,  botanist,  and  also  four  Eskimos.  He  failed 
to  return;  and  at  the  present  writing  no  tidings  whatever 
have  been  received.^ 

With  the  departure  of  the  Rasmussen  party  on 
April  15th  I  decided  to  attempt  again  what  I  had 
just  failed  in  doing — a  survey  of  the  eastern  coast 
of  Ellesmere  Land  from  Cape  Sabine  to  Clarence 
Head. 

Within  a  few  weeks  seals  would  be  plentiful  as  food 
for  our  dogs,  and  possibly  the  sea  ice  would  be  solid 
and  stationary  around  Capes  Sabine,  Herschel,  and 
Isabella. 

On  Thursday,  May  3d,  we  were  off  again  for  Cape 
Sabine,  where  we  arrived  May  6th,  having  encountered 
another  driving  snowstorm  on  Smith  Sound.  To  meet 
my  men  two  days  later  after  they  had  been  feeding 
upon  three-year-old  narwhal  meat  was  a  far  more 
severe  test  of  physical  endurance.  Great  Caesar!  what 
a  stench!  It  persisted  in  keeping  us  company  for  miles 
and  miles. 

The  ice  at  Cape  Herschel  was  unchanged.  Again  the 
Elison  Pass;  and  again  ruined  runners,  demanding  hours 
of  hard  work  with  emery-paper  to  restore  them  to  their 
former  bright  and  smooth  condition. 

Quoting  from  my  field  journal  of  May  9,  1917: 

One  below  zero  at  eight  o'clock.  .  .  .  We  are  in  camp  to-night  on 
south  side  of  Cape  Isabella,  a  point  I  have  wanted  to  reach  for 

^  The  Rasmussen  party  has  been  reported  by  cable  to  have  reached  Etah 
late  in  the  summer  of  1917  in  a  starving  condition,  and  with  the  loss  of 
Doctor  Wulff,  the  botanist,  and  Hendrik  Olsen,  a  half-breed  South-Greenland 
dog-driver. — Editor. 


296      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [May 

some  months.  From  now  on  it  is  new  country,  only  two  points  of 
which  a  man  has  touched,  namely  Cape  Faraday  and  Clarence 
Head. 

Owing  to  the  late  storm,  the  going  is  now  good.  Fortunately,  our 
loads  are  light  or  we  should  not  have  reached  this  point.  Ojjen 
water  around  end  of  cape;  therefore  we  ascended  over  the  Wyville 
Thompson  Glacier.  The  perspiration  ran  down  our  bodies  in 
streams;  and  what  a  time  coming  down!  A  shoot  the  chute,  a  loop 
the  loop,  and  an  aerial  railway  all  in  one!  It  was  certainly  exciting; 
I  felt  like  going  back  and  trjang  it  over  again, 

Arklio  was  ahead  and  knew  where  he  was  going.  I  didn't!  See- 
ing him  disappear  around  a  sharp  turn  with  his  dogs  in  tow,  I  whipped 
my  dogs  to  the  rear,  seized  the  handle-bars,  and  followed.  There 
is  a  law  of  falling  bodies  which  runs:  "Sixteen  feet  the  first  second, 
thirty-two  the  next,  etc.,  etc."  It  was  not  many  seconds  before  I 
was  in  the  etc.,  etc.,  and  still  going  somewhere.  As  I  shot  aroimd 
the  corner  with  all  my  brakes  on  and  wheel  hard  astarboard,  I  saw 
Arklio  crawling  out  of  a  snowbank  at  the  foot  of  the  slope.  Would 
I  clear  him  or  strike  him,  was  my  first  thought?  In  spite  of  every 
effort,  the  sledge  slewed  aroimd  broadside  on,  and  away  she 
went  over  and  over  so  rapidly  that,  although  my  sledge-bag  and 
biscuit-tin  were  open,  not  a  thing  came  out!  I  looped  only 
once! 

Chuckling  a  bit,  I  confess,  we  quickly  cleared  the  wreck  from 
the  track  for  the  two  unsuspecting  express  trains  which  we  knew  were 
to  follow  at  any  moment.  Around  they  came,  one  following  the  other 
closely.  Braced  back  to  the  limit,  with  his  sturdy  short  legs  plow- 
ing a  furrow,  and  the  southernmost  part  of  his  body  almost  drag- 
ging the  ground,  E-took-a-shoo  was  a  picture  of  activity  and  energy. 
If  anything  hapi>ened,  he  was  a  "gonner";  he  would  surely  have 
been  spitted  by  the  rapidly  following  sledge. 

His  grip,  his  eye,  his  judgment,  his  muscles — all  had  been  trained 
by  generations  of  such  experiences,  and  down  he  sailed  like  a  bird, 
as  did  the  man  behind  him. 

Nestling  among  the  hills,  there  were  two  frozen  l£^es, 
one  of  which  was  perhaps  a  half-mile  long  and  a  quarter- 
mile  wide;  the  other  nearly  circular  and  about  300  yards 
in  diameter. 

Reaching  the  shore  by  a  descent  of  the  outlet  bed, 
we  discovered  the  remains  of  a  sledge  belonging  to  one 


19171       CAPE  SABINE  TO^  CLARENCE  HEAD        297 

of  a  party  of  bear-hunters  three  years  before.  They 
failed  to  find  game,  and  they  were,  as  a  result,  in  very 
straitened  circumstances.  Nearly  all  of  their  dogs  died 
of  starvation,  and  their  masters  only  reached  Etah  after 
exi>eriencing  considerable  hardships. 

In  front  of  our  camp,  the  ice  was  all  in  motion  and 
intersected  by  large  cracks.  To  drive  out  on  its  surface 
would  simply  invite  disaster.  To  drive  back  again  to 
the  lakes  and  descend  to  the  shore  by  a  pass  farther 
west  was  our  only  alternative. 

When  we  reached  Paget  Point  we  were  again  driven 
inland  by  open  water,  and  pitched  our  tent  well  up  into 
Cadogan  Inlet,  hitherto  unexplored  and  unsurveyed. 
Its  shores  consist  of  a  succession  of  glaciers  flowing  from 
the  ice-cap  above  through  every  outlet  to  the  sea;  very 
different  from  what  is  depicted  on  our  latest  maps.  In 
fact,  this  whole  western  land  seemed  to  be  buried  be- 
neath a  heavy  mantle  of  snow  and  ice  and  to  be  at  least 
ten  degrees  colder  than  our  temperatures  at  Etah.  At 
this  camp  on  May  10th,  our  thermometer  registered 
fourteen  below  zero.  This  difference  in  temi>erature  and 
in  depth  of  snow  and  ice  between  the  opposite  sides  of 
Smith  Sound,  one  uninhabitable  and  the  other  an  Arctic 
oasis,  is  undoubtedly  due  to  the  fact  that  on  the  east 
side  we  have  a  northward  flowing  current  of  water  and  a 
downward  and  outward  current  of  air,  which  is  heated 
adiabatically  in  its  descent  from  a  10,000-foot  altitude. 
On  the  western  side,  we  find  hugging  the  shore  the  Arc- 
tic pack,  flowing  southward  from  the  Polar  Sea  down 
through  Kennedy  Channel,  Robeson  Channel,  and 
Smith  Sound;  and  comparatively  no,  or  very  little, 
wind,  as  is  evidenced  by  the  large  amount  of  deep,  soft 
snow  in  the  fiords. 


298       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [May 

On  Friday,  May  11th,  we  crossed  over  the  summit  of 
the  big  Sparks  Glacier.  To  my  surprise,  although  the 
temperature  was  twenty-two  below  zero,  near  the  sea 
ice  on  the  southern  side  there  was  a  spouting  stream 
of  water  issuing  from  a  crevice.  Freezing  as  it  fell,  it 
looked  like  a  composite  picture  of  a  geyser  of  Yellow- 
stone Park  and  a  winter  scene  at  Niagara  Falls. 

As  I  was  descending  the  glacier,  I  noted  the  existence 
of  an  unmapped  island  embedded  in  the  sea  ice  two  miles 
from  shore  and  about  two  miles  south  of  Paget  Point. 
To  my  inquiry,  the  Eskimo  boys  replied  that  it  was  an 
island;  that  they  had  often  cami>ed  upon  it  when  bear- 
hunting;  and  that  in  size  it  was  about  that  of  Littleton 
Island  near  Etah,  which  would  make  it  a  mile  long  and 
a  half-mile  wide.     This  I  have  named  Orne  Island. 

How  often  in  the  North  I  have  blessed  the  man  of 
centuries  ago  who  devised  the  snow-shoe.  It  is  the 
only  part  of  one's  equipment  for  which  one  feels  a  real 
affection.  To  strap  on  a  pair  of  snow-shoes  and  stride 
off  over  the  surface  through  which  a  man  has  been  wal- 
lowing laboriously  for  hours  must  be  very  similar  to  the 
sensation  experienced  by  a  spent  swimmer  who  reaches 
for  and  clutches  a  life-preserver.  Think  of  the  gritty 
EngHshmen  of  the  British  Expedition  of  1875-76  plod- 
ding day  after  day  through  snow  thigh-deep  along  the 
northern  shore  of  Grant  Land,  until,  finally,  physically 
exhausted  by  their  efforts,  they  resorted  to  standing 
pulls  and  the  count,  "One — two — three — ^pull!'*  One 
step  at  a  time!  And  remember  Beaumont  and  his  men 
from  the  Discovery  crawling  on  hands  and  knees  through 
deep  snows  across  the  Keltic  Gulf.'*  They  were  men! 
But,  unfortunately,  men  who  knew  nothing  of  the 
Indian  snow-shoe. 


19171       CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        299 

Our  shoe  was  the  Tubbs  shoe  from  Norway,  Maine, 
forty-eight  by  twelve,  beautifully  made  and  well  adapted 
for  dog-team  work  and  the  compact,  wind-blown  snows  of 
the  Arctic.  For  this  shore,  however,  a  wider  shoe  would 
have  been  preferable.  From  Paget  Point  to  Clarence 
Head  and  back,  snow-shoes  made  our  work  possible. 
After  our  experiences  there,  I  can  readily  understand  why 
this  stretch  of  coast  has  never  been  surveyed. 

On  the  11th  we  pitched  our  tent  upon  the  ice-foot  of 
a  Look  headland  which  resembled,  from  a  few  miles 
north,  a  magnificent  high  island,  which  proved  upon  an 
examination  to  be  connected  with  the  mainland  by  a 
flat,  narrow  neck.  Our  sledges  were  no  sooner  un- 
packed than  Arklio,  from  the  summit  of  a  high  rock, 
descried  a  polar  bear  one  mile  to  the  south.  The  fun 
was  on,  and  away  they  went  chatting  like  boys  out  of 
school.  Three  hours  later,  E-took-a-shoo  came  gallop- 
ing in  astride  of  the  bear.  The  bear  was  dead,  however, 
and  lashed  to  his  sledge.  This  was  one  of  the  days 
when  we  sat  up  for  twenty-four  hours,  as  we  often  did 
in  order  to  get  a  series  of  midnight-sun  pictures,  also 
sights  for  longitude,  latitude,  and  compass  variation. 

As  we  left  this  camp  and  drove  south,  I  noticed  what 
appeared  to  be  an  enormous  glacier  stretching  almost  to 
Cap>e  Faraday.  A  closer  examination  later  proved  this 
glacier  to  be  at  least  twenty  miles  along  its  face,  the 
second  largest  in  size  in  the  whole  Smith  Sound  region. 
This  I  have  named  the  American  Museum  Glacier.  The 
surface  of  the  ice  was  a  perfect  network  of  bear  tracks. 
Our  dogs,  with  tails  tightly  curled  and  short,  quick  yelps, 
led  us  on  and  along  the  face  of  this  glacier  for  four  hours 
in  pursuit  of  a  bear.  Far  ahead  I  could  see  Arklio  vigor- 
ously pumping  both  arms,  which,  translated  from  the 

20 


300      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    (Mat 

sign  language,  informed  me  that  nanook  (bear)  was  in 
sight.  E-took-a-shoo  and  I  snapped  our  whips  and 
yelled  ourselves  hoarse  in  our  endeavors  to  stimulate  our 
dogs  to  greater  effort  and  be  in  at  the  death.  Dashing 
through  a  mass  of  rough  ice,  I  came  suddenly  upon 
Arklio  peering  into  a  pool  of  water.  In  reply  to  my 
look  of  amazement,  he  grinned  and  began  pulling  in 
on  his  harpoon  line.  Up  popped  the  head  of  the  bear — 
dead! 

This  incident  clearly  reveals  the  amphibious  nature  of 
the  "tiger  of  the  north."  More  at  home  in  the  water 
than  on  the  ice-fields,  he  preferred  to  wage  battle  in 
the  water  against  these  strange,  yelping  animals  rather 
than  take  his  stand  on  a  berg,  as  I  have  so  often  seen 
them  do.  His  plan  for  defense  was  far  more  effective 
against  the  dog  than  against  a  Winchester  rifle.  It  is 
interesting  to  note  that  Arklio  had  the  forethought  to 
harpoon  first  in  order  to  make  sure  of  his  quarry;  a 
polar  bear  sometimes  sinks  when  shot. 

At  this  camp  I  obtained,  at  the  edge  of  the  glacier, 
with  a  transit,  a  double  round  of  sights  from  a  meas- 
ured base  line  of  2,000  feet;  also  obtained  observations 
for  compass  variation  and  photographs  of  all  the  land 
south.  The  water  at  the  face  of  the  glacier,  which  was 
resting  on  the  bottom,  proved  to  be  seventy-seven  feet 
deep. 

On  the  15th  of  May  we  passed  Cape  Faraday  and  the 
mouth  of  Talbot  Inlet,  and  camped  at  Boger  Point  *bn 
top  of  a  flat  berg  in  our  determination  to  find  something 
solid  beneath  our  feet.  Covered  with  j>erspiration  and 
breathing  heavily,  we  sat  on  our  sledges  chagrined. 
Our  dogs  with  lolling  tongues  could  not  yet  understand 
why,  with  a  mother  bear  and  two  cubs  running  along 


SLEDGING  ON  THE  ICE-FOOT  IN  THE  LATE  SPRING 


THERE    ARE    MANY    DANGEROUS     CORNERS    ON    A    NARROW    ICE-FOOT     WHICH 
DEMAND   MOST   CAREFUL   WORK   TO    PREVENT   A   DROP   INTO   THE   SEA 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD         301 

in  front  of  our  sledges  for  more  than  a  mile,  we  had  not 
fed  them  steaks  and  tenderloins.  Nor  did  we!  I  had 
never  known  it  to  happen  before.  A  bear  in  the  bush 
is  equal  to  a  bear  in  the  hand.  "Well,  Ak-pood-a-shah-o 
might  get  them  yet,"  I  thought;  but  as  I  watched  his 
tired  dogs  crawling  at  a  snail's  pace  through  that  ocean 
of  fluffy  snow  I  decided  that  Mrs.  Bear  need  have  no 
anxiety  over  her  family. 

For  some  time  E-took-a-shoo,  with  a  worried  look  on 
his  fat  face,  as  if  he  doubted  his  sanity,  persisted  in  the 
refrain  of,  "Why  didn't  I  shoot?"  to  which  I  just  as 
persistently  replied,  in  a  very  minor  key,  "Yes,  why 
didn't  you  shoot.?"  Four  big  men,  four  big  rifles,  forty 
active  dogs!  One  mother  bear,  two  little  bears — and 
no  meat!  No,  they  wouldn't  tell  that  next  winter  when 
they  narrated  deeds  of  valor  and  tales  of  prowess  in 
the  darkened  igloos  at  Etah. 

Arklio,  with  a  "give-me-another-chance"  movement, 
snatched  my  binoculars  out  of  their  leather  case  and 
swept  the  ice-fields.  In  a  few  minutes  an  excited  "  T-coo! 
Ping-a-soo-nel"  ("Look!  Three!")  announced  the  dis- 
covery of  another  family  out  for  a  stroll.  Arklio  had 
loaned  his  dogs  to  Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  who  was  still  in 
pursuit  of  the  first  bear.  He  looked  at  my  dogs,  then 
at  the  bears.  To  his  implied  request,  I  assented  at 
once  with  a  "Yes,  go  ahead.     See  what  you  can  do." 

After  the  boys  had  gone,  I  strapped  on  my  snow- 
shoes  and  visited  the  big  glaciers  at  the  head  of  the 
bay,  taking  careful  sights  and  a  panoramic  view  of  the 
whole  coast  from  Cai>e  Faraday  on  the  north  to  Clarence 
Head  in  the  southeast.  The  coast,  buried  in  snow  and 
ice  and  outlines  gone,  is  so  very  different  from  what  is 
charted  that  points  named  sixty-seven  years  ago  by 


802       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [May 

Inglefield  were  identified  only  with  diflSculty.  On  our 
latest  map,  "Polar  Regions,  BaflBn  Bay  to  Lincoln  Sea," 
issued  by  ihe  Navy  Department  on  February  21,  1911, 
there  are  nine  tidewater  glaciers  from  Cape  Sabine  to 
Clarence  Head.  I  counted,  photographed,  and  mapped 
forty-two — one,  the  American  Museum  Glacier,  being  at 
least  twenty  miles  along  its  face. 

The  whole  coast-line  of  Boger  Point  is  a  vast  Pied- 
mont Glacier  with  some  ten  or  a  dozen  feeders  flowing 
from  the  interior  of  a  rugged-looking  country  crowned 
with  the  Thorndike  Peaks,  which  are  two  thousand  feet 
in  height.  This  glacier  I  have  named  in  honor  of  the 
American  Geographical  Society. 

From  our  camp  at  Boger  Point,  it  was  but  a  few  miles 
across  to  Clarence  Head,  lying  more  in  an  easterly  direc- 
tion than  it  is  delineated  by  the  latest  maps.  With  my 
glasses,  my  men  could  be  plainly  seen  well  beyond  Cape 
Combermere,  skinning  a  bear  on  the  shore.  Boger 
Point  is  in  error  in  latitude,  as  is  nearly  every  point 
on  the  coast. 

Saunders  Island  does  not  exist  as  an  island.  There 
is  a  nunatak  about  in  that  p>osition,  which,  years  ago, 
before  the  advance  of  the  glacier,  might  have  been  an 
island.  At  present  it  is  entirely  surrounded  by  ice. 
Clarence  Head  is  out  of  position  relatively.  Inside  of 
Clarence  Head  the  land  is  low  and  covered  with  large 
glaciers,  receding  until  lost  in  the  distance  toward  the 
northern  shores  of  Jones  Sound.  Here  was  a  tempting 
white  highway.  Prevailing  deep  snows  and  lateness  of 
the  season  precluded  an  advance  south  from  this  point. 

On  my  return,  I  discovered  that  the  three  dogs  which 
had  been  left  at  camp  were  loose  and  looking  like  ani- 
mated balloons.     They  had  cleaned  up  our  commissary 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD         303 

department  in  an  efficient  manner.  My  dog,  I  vowed, 
I  would  not  feed  for  a  week,  seeing  that  she  was  ap- 
parently provisioned  for  a  month. 

Arklio  soon  arrived  with  the  meat  and  skin  of  a  cub, 
reporting  that  E-took-a-shoo  had  eaten  raw  meat  rather 
heartily  and  had  dropi>ed  to  sleep  en  route  on  his  sledge 
and  might  not  be  in  until  to-morrow.  I  hoped  that  his 
dogs  would  not  turn  and  eat  all  the  meat  out  from  under 
him.  He  arrived  in  about  two  hours  with  everything 
intact,  followed  by  the  third  Eskimo  with  nothing  but 
two  highly  inflamed  eyes;  in  his  rush  to  get  away  he  had 
forgotten  his  snow-glasses.  On  the  16th  we  started 
back,  swinging  well  up  into  Talbot  Inlet,  which  we  found 
to  be  one  of  the  most  striking  bits  of  scenery  on  the 
coast.  The  fiord,  some  eight  miles  in  length,  is  bordered 
by  hills  at  least  1,000  feet  in  height,  intersected  with 
large  and  many  glaciers.  A  heavy  wind  and  strong  drift 
prevented  an  extensive  survey;  what  we  saw  was  fairly 
wild  in  its  appearance.  My  boys  informed  me  that  there 
were  many  tales  and  traditions  relating  to  this  very 
place,  for  they  recognized  many  points  from  tales  that 
they  had  heard  as  children.  One  mile  from  the  mouth, 
a  castle-like  island  rises  abruptly  out  of  the  sea  ice. 
How  I  longed  to  see  this  in  the  summer-time! 

At  Cape  Faraday  we  stopj)ed  our  sledge  and  made  a 
minute  examination  of  every  square  foot  of  the  shore 
in  hopes  of  finding  the  cairn  and  record  left  in  1894  by 
H.  G.  Bryant,  president  of  the  Geographical  Society  of 
Philadelphia.  He  later  told  me  in  New  York  that  his 
record  was  left  on  toy  of  the  cape,  which  explains  our 
failure  to  find  it. 

May  18th  was  memorable,  for  on  that  day  we  heard 
the  note  of  the  first  glaucous  gull  of  the  season.     We 


S04       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Mat 

watched  intently  that  beautiful  white  body  gliding 
along  the  face  of  the  cliff.  Summer  had  come,  although 
our  temperature  was  zero. 

Our  return  trip  found  conditions  unchanged — open 
water  at  the  tips  of  all  the  capes.  Paget  Point,  called  by 
the  natives  Nook-suah  (Big  Point),  is  ice-capped,  and 
sends  glaciers  between  massive  headlands  to  the  sea. 
It  took  four  hours  to  cross  this  from  shore  to  shore, 
deep  snows  necessitating  snow-shoes  throughout  the 
passage. 

Gale  Point,  at  the  northern  entrance  to  Cadogan  In- 
let, is  marked  by  a  beautiful  buff-and-brown  sandstone 
cliff.  A  half-hour  here  enabled  the  boys  to  select  sev- 
eral especially  fine-grained  whetstones,  a  valuable  ac- 
quisition, seeing  that  sharp  knives  are  in  constant  de- 
mand for  their  daily  routine  of  work. 

Once  more  we  toiled  up  the  heights  of  Cape  Isabella 
and  rested  our  dogs  on  the  very  summit  with  the 
smooth  dome  of  Mt.  Bolton  at  our  backs.  Perfect 
weather  revealed  the  distant,  but  familiar,  shores  of 
Greenland  stretching  north  and  south  until  lost  in  the 
blue  haze.  Cape  Isabella,  the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs, 
Foulke  Fiord,  could  all  be  easily  identified.  It  seemed 
but  a  step  to  the  door  of  Borup  Lodge,  which  I  knew  to 
be  there  with  its  veil  of  smoke  issuing  from  the  chimney. 

Open  water  everywhere!  To  the  uninitiated,  a  cross- 
ing was  absolutely  impossible.  But  we  well  knew  that 
far  to  the  north,  well  within  Kane  Basin,  there  was  aii 
icy  bridge  awaiting  us. 

A  run  down  the  north  side  of  Isabella  brought  us  to 
our  selected  camping-place  ufK)n  the  very  spot  used  by 
migrating  Eskimos  centuries  before.  A  circle  of  lichen- 
covered  tent  stones,  rolled  back  by  hands  of  Eskimos 


HELIEF-SHIP       NEPTUNE      IN  BAFFIN  BAY 


RELIEF-SHIP    "NEPTUNE       AT   ANCHOR    IN    ETAH    HARBOR 


1917]      CAPE  SABINE  TO  CLARENCE  HEAD        305 

long  dead,  were  again  rolled  into  place  on  the  ground 
flap  of  our  shelter. 

Our  next  camp  was  at  Cape  Herschel,  that  I  might 
examine  and  search  for  the  cairn  and  record  left  by  A. 
P.  Low  of  the  Dominion  Government  Exp>edition.  Here 
Mr.  Low  landed  and  took  formal  jwssession  of  Ellesmere 
Land  in  August,  1904.  The  cairn  was  demolished  and 
the  record  gone. 

My  diary  reads: 

Wednesday,  May  23,  1917,  Smith  Sound. — Open  water  at  Cape 
Sabine  gave  us  some  hard  and  also  dangerous  work,  because  a  slip 
or  a  snowslide  meant  a  cold  salt-v/ater  bath  following  a  bad  fall. 
There  were  two  dangerous  points,  owing  to  the  vertical  cliffs,  nar- 
row ice-foot,  and  large,  sloping  snowbank.  Here  very  cautious  work 
was  imperative.  By  cutting  a  furrow  for  one  runner  and  using 
ropes,  we  got  by  safely. 

Rounding  Cape  Sabine  with  six  seals  in  sight  looked  like  the 
promised  land.  It  was  not  long  before  we  had  two  of  them  into 
our  dogs. 

4,15. — A  gale  from  the  south  with  drift  and  snow.  "Will  the  tent 
hold?  My  boots  and  mittens  are  within  reach  if  it  decides  to  leave 
us.  If  it  were  not  for  our  seven  guy-ropes  in  addition  to  eight  fasten- 
ings through  holes  in  the  ice,  it  would  have  gone  into  the  air  long 
ago. 

The  Eskimos,  sleeping  on  their  sledges,  are  a  mass  of  drifted 
snow.  I  can  hear  a  smothered  yell  now  and  then  asking  about  the 
weather. 

7.30. — Signs  of  clearing. 

At  2.30  on  the  morning  of  the  24th  we  reached  land  in  a  smother 
of  snow.  Old  Smith  Sound  gave  us  a  savage  parting  as  we  left  her 
for  the  last  time — the  tenth  trip  across  the  ice.  Ak-pood-a-shah-o 
declared  that  the  God  of  the  Sea  had  his  eye  upon  us.  "Yes,  and 
something  more,"  added  E-took-a-shoo. 


XV 

THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE 

AFTER  four  years,  we  felt  that  a  ship  must  surely 
-^*'  come.  Twice  the  Museum  had  failed  to  effect 
our  release  by  employing  ships  unsuited  for  the  work. 
And  now,  certainly,  the  very  best  would  be  obtained 
and  placed  in  command  of  Peary  or  Bartlett.  We 
feared,  however,  that  the  Danmark,  the  relief-ship  of 
1916,  in  winter  quarters  at  TJmanak,  120  miles  south, 
would  arrive  and  rescue  the  party  before  Peary  or 
Bartlett  could  work  his  ship  through  the  ice  of  Melville 
Bay.  A  letter  from  Captain  Hanson  of  the  Danmark 
requested  that  everything  be  ready  for  embarkation  on 
August  1st,  the  date  on  which  he  expected  to  arrive. 

Our  well-worn  boxes  and  many-times-handled  skins 
were  now  packed  for  the  third  time,  a  work  generally 
done  on  days  unfavorable  for  photographing,  bird  and 
egg-collecting,  walrus,  narwhal,  and  seal-hunting.  The 
very  imj>ortant  work  of  meat-getting  must  go  on  and 
take  precedence  of  all  other  duties.  There  was  always 
the  possibility  of  the  loss  of  the  ship  or  a  failure  to  pene- 
trate the  immense  ice-fields  to  the  south;  consequently 
another  year  of  enforced  stay  in  the  Arctic. 

My  journal  for  the  months  of  May,  June,  and  July 
gives  a  picture  of  our  activities: 


1917]        THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  307 

Friday,  May  25th. — We  reached  Etah  at  one  o'clock.  Our  dogs 
were  tired  with  wallowing  through  deep  snow.  Inside  of  Littleton 
Island  open  water  compelled  us  to  take  the  ice-foot;  at  one  place 
it  was  so  narrow  that,  to  handle  one  sledge,  three  men  were  necessary. 

East  of  Sunrise  Point  a  seal  was  seen  on  the  ice.  EJiowing  that 
there  must  be  but  Uttle  meat  at  Etah,  we  tried  for  it,  but  lost  it. 

Jot  had  just  gotten  to  bed  when  we  arrived.  He  was  soon  up, 
however,  and  had  coffee  and  musk-ox  meat  ready.  He  and  his 
party  had  been  in  from  EUesmere  Land  only  twenty-four  hours. 
They  bring  some  good  specimens,  among  which  are  two  small  musk- 
ox  calves,  a  six-legged  musk-ox;  and  a  baby  bearded  seal.  Only  one 
bear  to  their  credit,  but  musk-ox  galore.  Their  sledges  were  piled 
high  with  skins  and  meat. 

Saturday,  May  26th. — Jot,  Oo-dee,  and  Ah-now-ka  left  to-day  for 
Ka-mowitz  seal-hunting. 

Am  busy  developing  120  negatives.  The  water  is  so  dirty  that 
I  am  about  discouraged.  Think  of  sending  Eskimos  to  the  lake 
for  a  fresh  supply. 

Cloudy  weather  prevents  me  from  obtaining  a  good  double  alti- 
tude for  correction  of  chronometers.  Captain  Comer  is  very  busy 
with  his  tides,  therefore  I  take  aU  meteorological  work  off  his  hands. 
My  time  is  more  than  full  now.  Every  minute  counts  from  now  up 
to  the  arrival  of  the  ship. 

Sunday,  May  27th. — The  warmest  (twenty-eight  degrees  above) 
and  best  day  which  we  have  had  for  some  time.  I  developed  a  few 
pictures  but  give  it  up  for  lack  of  good  water. 

The  Eskimos  are  busy  with  their  bear  skins  and  catching  little 
auks  which  can  be  heard  chattering  at  the  chffs. 

Ice  conditions  are  very  much  different  from  last  year.  From 
our  door  not  a  particle  of  open  water  can  be  seen. 

Thursday,  May  31st. — Have  been  on  the  jump  all  day,  as  I  shall 
be  imtil  the  ship  comes.  Drove  twice  to  the  point  for  coal,  wood, 
water,  tins,  and  crated  demijohns.  Our  coal  is  about  gone,  there- 
fore I  am  continually  picking  up  all  the  wood  which  I  can  find. 

Water  is  now  trickling  down  over  the  rocks  at  the  falls.  Have 
tins  under  every  trickle  and  hope  to  keep  us  supplied.  Have  spent 
much  of  my  time  boihng  and  filtering  water  for  developing  150 
negatives. 

Have  had  Wee-we  clean  our  Hamburg  machine,  which  Jot  put 
aside  some  months  ago,  with  the  result  that  we  are  enjoying  some 
excellent  musk-ox  Hamburg  steak. 

The  wind  has  played  havoc  with  E-took-a-shoo*s  tupik.  It  is 
flat,  and  he  and  his  wife  are  in  our  cellar  for  the  night. 


308      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH     [June 

At  the  head  of  the  fiord  it  looks  Hke  a  smother.  A  heavy  bank  of 
fog  seems  to  be  rolling  down  from  the  ice-cap.  As  it  reaches  the 
hills  the  wind  tears  it  apart  and  rolls  it  into  large  cumulous  clouds 
which  go  flying  past  the  house  into  the  southwest. 

Saturday,  June  2d. — Doing  tidal  work  and  trying  hard  to  keep 
awake,  having  omitted  one  night's  sleep.  Wind  is  subsiding  and 
head  of  fiord  clear.     Good  weather  promised. 

Dirty  Face  having  pups.  Thinking  it  was  about  time,  I  built  her 
a  house  yesterday.  Two  of  the  pups  were  apparently  lifeless;  I 
thought  they  were  dead  or  would  soon  be.  To  my  surprise,  upon 
going  into  Ah-ne-nah's  tupik  at  two  o'clock,  I  found  one  suspended 
over  the  stove  in  a  handkerchief,  uttering  good,  healthy,  contented 
grunts,  the  other  being  similarly  treated  in  Al-nay-ah's  tupik. 

Ak-pal-e-soo-ah-suk  tells  me  that  some  years  ago  there  was  a 
pup  hanging  above  the  Eskimo  lamp,  and  it  fell  into  the  cooking- 
pot!     I  presume  they  left  it  right  there. 

Have  developed,  fixed,  and  filed  away  thirty-two  negatives  to- 
day. This  means  considerable  walking,  as  I  carry  them  all  out  to 
a  pool  in  the  harbor  ice.  At  midnight  I  begin  my  hourly  tidal 
observations. 

More  pups  born  to-day.  Have  now  three  bitches  with  pups — 
sixteen  in  all,  I  think.  It  keeps  me  busy  providing  shelters,  grass, 
food,  and  water  in  addition  to  attending  my  own  team  of  eight, 
including  one  dog  with  rabies  which  I  must  chloroform  at  once 
before  he  breaks  loose  and  bites  every  dog  in  the  village. 

Sunday,  June  3d. — At  5.30  this  morning  Jot,  Samik,  and  Go-dee 
came  in  from  the  north,  having  secured  about  sixteen  seals,  and, 
what  was  of  much  more  interest  to  me,  the  eggs  of  the  gyrfalcon. 
This  is  our  second  set  and  an  excellent  addition  to  our  collection. 

At  point  this  side  of  Rensselaer  Harbor  they  met  Sipsoo  and 
In-you-gee-to,  the  last  of  Rasmussen's  supporting  parties,  returning 
from  Fort  Conger,  where  they  had  been  hunting  musk-oxen.  Among 
other  relics,  souvenirs,  and  things  of  interest,  he  had  my  record  left 
there  in  June,  1909,  with  Ekblaw's  addition  left  in  1915. 

Jot  had  a  thrilling  experience  and  possibly  a  narrow  escape  with 
his  life.  When  walking  along  the  ice-foot  he  fell  into  a  crack  up^to 
his  armpits;  he  held  for  some  time,  but  finally  dropped  ten  feet  or 
so  into  water  up  to  his  waist.  There  was  no  possible  escape  without 
help,  and  Go-dee  had  gone  on.  With  the  rising  tide  he  would  drown, 
if  he  did  not  perish  from  cold  long  before  that.  To  say  that  he 
yelled  would  not  half  express  the  noise  which  he  made.  But  finally 
it  was  effective.  Samik  heard  him  and  thought  he  was  back  in  the 
hills  somewhere.     When  the  boys  finally  found  him  they  were  unable 


IT    WAS    HARD    TO    BID    THEM    GOOD-BY 


A  REAL  DOG 


1917]        THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  309 

to  pull  him  up  because  of  his  weight,  augmented  considerably  by 
his  saturated  clothes.  They  fastened  the  line  and  he  worked  him- 
self up  with  their  help. 

Monday,  June  18th. — Immediately  after  breakfast  Jot  and  I  got 
away  for  Littleton  and  Eider  Duck  Island  in  our  kayaks,  the  Eski- 
mos following  in  the  sailing  dory,  fifteen  of  them.  Arriving  at  the 
island  dead  low  water  presented  an  inaccessible  wall  of  ice,  the  ice- 
foot, or  collar,  as  sometimes  called.  We  all  camped  in  Beebe  Cache 
Cove  on  Littleton  Island.  While  the  boys  rowed  to  Polaris  winter 
quarters  after  our  tent,  I  crossed  the  island  in  search  of  eggs,  of 
which  I  found  only  two. 

On  the  high  water  we  crossed  to  Eider  Duck  Island.  The  ducks 
were  about  half  through  laying,  I  should  judge,  as  there  were  in 
the  majority  of  nests  two  eggs  only.  Jot  and  I  together  collected 
325. 

Three  nests  of  the  brant  {Branta  bernicla  glaucogastra)  were  foimd, 
two  of  the  nests  containing  four  eggs,  and  one  with  six,  I  also  found 
one  good  set  of  glaucous  gull's  (Larus  hyperboreus)  eggs,  while  two 
of  the  Eskimos  brought  me  two  sets  of  two  each. 

It  was  raining,  strange  to  say,  during  all  the  time  we  were  on 
the  island.  With  one  tent  for  seventeen  people  and  with  no  sleep- 
ing-bag, I  decided  to  row  home  while  wind,  weather,  and  tide  were 
fair.  Reached  Etah  in  three  hours.  Walked  a  couple  of  miles  after 
my  dog-team  and  drove  back  for  the  eggs.  Got  to  bed  at  seven 
o'clock,  twenty-three  hours  up. 

Saturday,  June  23d. — With  four  of  the  Eskimos  I  rowed  to  the 
Crystal  Palace  CliflFs  after  a  load  of  meat.  Returning,  we  called  at 
Cape  Kendrick  for  eggs  of  guillemot  (Cepphus  mandti),  of  which 
we  secured  sixteen. 

Exposed  nine  plates  to  show  breeding  locahty,  and  also  character- 
istics of  the  ice-foot,  which  seem  to  be  so  Uttle  understood  by 
geologists. 

My  big  white  dog  slipped  his  harness  yesterday  and  killed  a  small 
pup  belonging  to  his  aunt,  Whitey.     The  dispute  as  to  the  owner- 
ship of  the  child  was  on  when  I  arrived  on  the  scene  with  a  club. 
The  culprit  has  had  his  head  and  tail  down  for  several  hours,  wonder- 
ing wherein  it  is  a  criminal  offense  to  eat  good,  tender,  juicy  meat. 

Wednesday,  June  27th  to  Thursday,  July  6th. — A  wet  trip  from 
start  to  finish,  but  with  good  results. 

Seven  of  us  left  Etah  on  the  27th,  four  in  sailing-dory  and  three 
in  kayaks,  for  a  trip  south,  with  the  expectation  of  getting  eggs  at 
Sutherland  Island  and  hopes  of  killing  walrus  at  Sulwuddy  for  our 
hungry  dogs. 


310      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Smsr' 

Passed  around  Cape  Alexander  unseen  by  the  Devil  League  of  the 
Arctic  regions.  On  the  south  side  I  secured  three  clutches  of  eggs 
of  the  glaucous  gull. 

At  the  island  (Sutherland)  we  found  hundreds  of  eider  ducks  on 
and  off  their  nests,  and  also  noted  nineteen  brant  flying  back  and 
forth.  Within  a  very  short  time  we  collected  about  a  thousand 
eggs,  including  eleven  of  the  brant.  All  nests  containing  four  and 
over  I  left  untouched,  knowing  that  at  this  date  they  were  too  much 
incubated  to  be  relished. 

It  began  to  rain  when  we  were  on  the  island,  and  continued  inter- 
mittently for  the  next  six  days. 

When  in  camp  at  Sulwuddy  the  boys  hinted  that  they  would 
like  to  go  to  Nerky  to  see  the  Eskimos,  which  I  decided  to  do  as 
soon  as  weather  would  permit. 

Some  of  the  party  spent  their  time  digging  about  the  old  igloos 
for  ethnological  specimens,  while  the  others  hunted  for  seals,  of  which 
Arklio  shot  two- 
Rowing  along  shore  to  Nerky,  we  noted  an  unusually  large  num- 
ber of  hare  so  close  to  the  ice-foot  that  we  shot  repeatedly  from 
the  boat,  getting  three.  Drift  ice  west  of  Nerky  caused  us  to  de- 
viate considerably  from  our  coiu'se.  Finally,  we  worked  in  toward 
the  settlement  without  being  heard  or  seen  by  the  Eskimos.  Enter- 
ing a  fine  big  tupik,  with  some  difficulty  I  at  last  recognized  the 
sleeping  man  and  woman  as  Kood-look-to  and  Ah-nay-doo-a.  It 
took  them  some  time  to  realize  who  I  was  and  how  I  got  there. 
Within  a  few  minutes  all  in  the  village  were  up  and  out. 

There  were  five  tupiks  in  all — Kood-look-to  and  wife;  Ah-we- 
gee-a  and  wife;  Kla-shing-wa  and  wife;  Ah-pellah  and  wife;  and 
In-you-ta  with  bachelor  apartments,  one  of  my  old  igloo  linings. 
Toi-tee-a  and  wife,  who  left  Etah  a  few  days  ahead  of  us  by  way  of 
the  ice-cap,  were  blocked  here  by  open  water.  As  he  could  reach 
his  home  only  with  considerable  difficulty,  I  offered  him  oiu:  boat, 
in  which  the  Eskimos  could  row  him  to  Ig-loo-da-houny.  They 
started  at  once,  returning  the  night  of  the  30th,  working  slowly 
through  a  large  field  of  drift  ice.  ^ 

On  July  1st  we  left  for  home,  accompanied  by  Kood-look-to, 
Kla-shing-wa,  In-you-ta,  and  Ah-pellah,  the  last  named  intending  to 
go  only  as  far  as  Peteravik,  the  others  to  Sutherland  Island  for  eggs. 

Some  five  miles  west  of  Cape  Chalon,  E-took-a-shoo  harpooned  a 
young  ook-jook  (bearded  seal).  Walrus  were  seen  several  times, 
one  of  which  Kood-look-to  tried  to  harpoon  but  failed,  attempting 
to  throw  at  too  great  a  distance.  Just  off  Sulwuddy  a  single  one 
came  to  the  surface,  which  E-took-a-shoo  harpooned  very  prettily. 


19171        THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  311 

After  cutting  up  both  seal  and  walrus,  five  of  the  men  decided  to 
continue  on  to  Sutherland  Island  and  to  Etah  before  the  wind 
should  prevent.  The  next  morning  we  joined  them  at  the  island, 
where  we  found  them  shooting  ducks  and  collecting  eggs.  EUa- 
shing-wa  had  six  eggs  of  the  brant  for  me. 

The  night  of  the  2d  was  very  windy,  with  heavy  surf,  so  much 
so,  in  fact,  that  I  worried  considerably  over  the  safety  of  oiu*  boat 
moored  at  bow  and  stern.  A  heavy  swell  prevented  our  attempting 
to  start  until  6  p.m.  on  the  3d,  and  then  not  without  some  appre- 
hension as  regards  the  men  in  kayaks.  They  came  along  nicely, 
however,  riding  like  ducks. 

After  rounding  the  cape  we  encountered  a  large  herd  of  walrus, 
which  disappeared  for  some  time,  reappearing  well  to  the  west  of 
us.  Soon  a  single  one  was  seen.  Oo-dee  was  persuaded  to  make. 
his  first  attempt,  which  I  watched  with  interest.  E-took-a-shoo  ac- 
companied him,  encouraging  and  cheering  him  on.  No  sooner  had 
the  iron  left  Oo-dee's  hand  when  E-took-a-shoo  threw,  both  getting 
fast.     Arklio  gave  him  the  finishing  stroke  with  his  .35  Winc.hester. 

What  was  apparently  a  difficult  piece  of  work  was  easily  and 
quickly  accomplished  by  ten  of  us  in  a  very  few  minutes.  An 
Eskimo  tackle  was  used  in  drawing  him  out  of  the  water  on  to  the 
ice-foot,  where  he  was  cut  up  and  thrown  into  the  dory. 

Crossing  now  to  the  Crystal  Palace  Cliffs,  we  were  fortunate  in 
harpooning  two  others.  Here  I  was  tempted  to  camp.  We  were 
wet  through,  tired,  and  hungry.  I  knew,  however,  that  Captain 
Comer  was  anxious  to  get  away  on  his  digging  trip;  therefore  we 
pulled  on  to  Etah,  another  six  miles,  with  dory  down  to  the  gim- 
wale. 

Noo-ka-ping-wa  met  us  at  the  edge  of  the  ice  with  dog-team, 
informing  us  that  all  others  were  up  the  fiord  after  dovekies. 
Working  in  a  drizzling  rain,  we  finally  succeeded  in  getting  every- 
thing to  the  house  over  the  broken  ice. 

To  our  surprise,  we  learned  that  it  was  the  4th  of  July.  Jot 
went  to  bed,  but  I  remained  up  thirty-six  hours  in  order  to  be  regidar 
in  the  future. 

This  evening  we  fired  a  salute  with  our  rifles  in  honor  of  the  day. 

Tuesday,  July  10th. — Clearing  up  at  last.  Shall  get  away  for 
Littleton  Island  and  Now-yard-ee  if  weather  permits,  later  in  the 
day. 

Saturday,  July  28th. — From  now  on  it  is  watch  the  south  contin- 
ually. Captain  Hanson  informed  me  that  he  would  be  here  August 
1st.  Everything  is  packed  and  ready  to  go  at  any  moment — over 
200  boxes  in  all. 


312       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [July 

Sunday,  July  29th. — Walked  the  length  of  the  fiord  to-day  along 
the  top  of  the  cliff,  to  determine  height.  The  first  elevation  east  of 
house  is  1,100  feet,  the  last  at  head  of  fiord  I  found  to  be  1,350  feet. 
The  terminal  moraine  back  of  the  house  is  350  feet  high. 

Heavy  wind  from  the  south'ard,  with  whitecaps  in  the  south. 

After  dinner  I  climbed  half-way  to  top  of  Thermometer  Hill  to 
get  photos  of  solifluction. 

In-ah-loo  has  started  for  Now-yard-ee,  a  walk  of  twenty-five  miles, 
to  get  an  old  stone  lamp  for  me. 

The  31st  arrived.  On  the  morrow  Captain  Hanson  and  the 
Danish  ship  Danmark  were  expected.  All  eyes  were  turned  toward 
the  south,  each  one  hoping  to  be  the  first  to  descry  the  black  trail 
of  telltale  smoke.  Everything  was  ready.  The  boxes  were  at  the 
edge  of  the  bank,  easily  accessible  for  the  boats. 

One  more  moving  picture  of  our  waterfall,  I  thought,  and  over 
I  went  to  secure  it.  When  busily  engaged  in  op)erating  the  ma- 
chine, old  In-ah-loo  forded  the  river,  and,  stopping  near  me,  in- 
quired, "Has  any  one  seen  the  ship.''" 

"Not  yet,"  I  rephed,  and  without  looking  out  to  sea,  continued 
my  work. 

She  passed  on  into  her  tupik,  wondering,  possibly,  if  her  eyes  were 
deceiving  her;  for  there  was  the  ship  plainly  visible  far  off  in  the 
track  of  the  sun,  bucking  a  hard  sea  and  wind. 

Within  a  few  seconds  this  fact  was  startlingly  evidenced  by  a 
concerted  yeU  from  the  excited  natives.  "  Oo-me-ark-suah!  Oo-me- 
arksuah!"  ("Big  ship!  Big  ship!")  echoed  throughout  the  settle- 
ment. 

With  two  masts  only,  and  these  wide  apart,  we  thought  at  first 
that  she  must  be  the  S.S.  Roosevelt,  her  rig  having  been  lately  changed 
to  fit  her  as  a  wrecker. 

Steaming  northward,  she  passed  from  our  view  behind  the  harbor 
hills.  While  impatiently  awaiting  her  reappearance  we  were  puz- 
zled as  to  the  import  of  the  long-drawn  wailing  shriek  of  the  siren 
whistle.  A  salute?  A  stranger  and  wanting  a  pilot?  Or  had  she 
struck  on  one  of  the  numerous  ledges  bordering  the  entrance  of  the 
fiord?  Jumping  into  the  punt,  I  was  soon  at  the  point  and  directly 
under  the  bows  of  the  big  gray  ship  as  she  steamed  into  view.  In- 
stantly all  resemblance  to  Peary's  ship,  the  Roosevelt,  disappeared. 
Old,  worn,  and  battered,  and  painted  a  dark  battleship  gray.  On 
her  bow  was  the  name — Neptune.  Although  well  acquainted  with 
this  veteran  of  Arctic  work,  I  was  deceived  as  to  her  identity  by  the 
change  in  her  general  appearance,  brought  about  by  the  removal  of 
her  mainmast  since  our  departure  from  home. 


E-TOOK-A-SHOO    LISTENING  AT  THE  BREATHING-HOLE  OF  A  SEAL 


TRACKS  OF  THE  POLAR  BEAR 


1917]        THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  313 

A  ringing  command  from  her  bridge  sounded  very  familiar. 

"Is  that  you,  Bob?"  I  yelled. 

"Of  course!  Who  in  hell  do  you  think  it  is?"  was  the  charac- 
teristic reply. 

On  the  quarter-deck  I  was  introduced  to  a  Mr.  Burbank,  a  friend 
of  Captain  Bartlett's  from  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts,  and  Dr.  G.  S. 
Knowlton,  of  New  York,  the  surgeon  of  the  relief  expedition. 

"How's  the  war?"  was  my  first  question. 

"The  war  is  still  on.     America  has  joined  the  Allies." 

"Who  is  President  of  the  United  States?" 

"Wilson." 

These  bits  of  information  were  extremely  interesting  in  view  of 
the  fact  that  the  Etah  argumentative  society  of  four  members,  which 
held  its  meetings  daily  at  8  P.M.,  over  a  cup  of  tea  and  biscuit,  had 
been  divided  (Comer,  Hovey,  and  myself  holding  one  view,  and  Jot 
the  contrary)  over  the  results  of  the  world  struggle.  That  the  Ger- 
mans were  not  in  Paris  we  strenuously  endeavored  to  demonstrate 
at  every  convocation,  but  without  success.  That  there  were  Ger- 
mans in  sufficient  numbers  in  our  country  to  assume  control  at  the 
orders  of  Kaiser  William  we  were  strangely  reluctant  to  admit. 
But  upon  one  point  we  all  happily  agreed.  Wilson  could  not  pos- 
sibly be  re-elected.     He  was  eliminated  without  opposition. 

Home!  Why,  it  was  like  going  to  another  world!  Happy?  Yes 
— no!  Naturally  we  wanted  to  see  friends  and  relatives,  but  the 
Great  Northland  gets  a  relentless  grip  on  a  man.  Its  drift  ice,  its 
towering  white  bergs,  its  glittering  domes,  its  receding  ice-cap,  the 
stretching  trail,  the  galloping  dogs,  the  happy,  laughing,  contented 
Eskimos — all  attracting,  appealing,  and  ever  calling. 

We  reluctantly  bade  good-by  to  those  faithful  helpers 
who  had  made  our  work  possible.  We  had  been  happy 
together.  They  had  been  faithful  to  the  end.  E-took- 
a-shoo,  Arklio,  and  Ak-jK)od-a-shah-o — I  can  never  for- 
get them.  There  was  not  a  smile  on  the  face  of  a  single 
Eskimo  as  they  slowly  descended  the  rope  ladder  to 
the  boat  which  I  had  given  them.  We  threw  down  the 
painter.  It  remained  where  it  fell.  Not  an  oar  was 
lifted.  The  boat  drifted  toward  the  shore  and  toward 
Borup  Lodge,  now  their  home.  We  waved  our  hats 
until  the  black  dots  merged  into  the  distance.     And 


314       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH    [Aug. 

long  after  they  were  gone  I  watched  the  white  dots  on 
the  bank  to  the  left  of  the  house — my  dogs.  We  had 
traveled  far  together.  Together  we  had  enjoyed  those 
long  bright  days  far  beyond  the  snow-capped  peaks  of 
EUesmere  Land;  and  together  we  had  faced  heavy 
wind  and  cutting  drifts.  I  couldn't  leave  them  all. 
Three  were  with  me,  bound  for  the  land  to  the  south 
where  there  are  no  heavy  loads  and  long  trails.  Their 
pulling  days  were  over. 

Extensive  fields  of  ice  on  the  southern  horizon  caused 
Captain  Bartlett  to  attempt  a  passage  south  by  follow- 
ing closely  the  EUesmere  Land  coast.  At  Clarence 
Head  he  encountered  a  solid  mass;  not  a  lead  could  be 
seen.  We  steamed  eastward  toward  the  Cary  Islands, 
and  remained  here  locked  in  the  ice  for  three  days. 
Two  big  iron  plates  had  already  been  ripp)ed  completely 
off  the  bows  of  the  ship,  leaving  bolt-holes  through  which 
the  water  was  jwuring  incessantly.  All  steam-pumps 
were  working  to  full  capacity  and  had  been  doing  so  for 
days.  A  well  was  constructed  in  the  forehold  out  of 
heavy  planks  from  which,  in  case  of  emergency,  water 
could  be  dipped  with  barrels  and  buckets. 

There  was  no  opening  to  the  south'ard,  so  the  Neptune 
steamed  back  toward  the  southwestern  shores  of  North- 
umberland and  Hakluyt  Islands.  I  had  hoped,  since 
my  advent  into  the  Arctic,  to  land  uj>on  the  latter. 
Discovered  and  named  by  William  Baffin  more  than 
300  years  ago,  it  was  the  center  of  controversy  for  y«ars, 
and  was  finally  erased  from  the  map,  together  with  all 
of  Baffin  Bay,  because  the  account  was  "vague,  indef- 
inite, and  unsatisfactory,  and  .  .  .  most  unlike  the  writ- 
ing of  William  Baffin." 

Two  hundred  years  passed  away  before  another  ship 


19171        THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  S15 

sailed  along  those  shores,  rediscovering  Hakluyt  Isle 
and  confirming  BaflBn's  account  in  every  particular. 

Captain  Bob,  Mr.  Burbank,  and  I  landed  upon  this 
historic  island,  which  we  found  dotted  with  evidence  of 
former  inhabitants — old  stone  igloos,  tupik  rings,  store- 
houses, and  stone  fox-traps.  Little  auks,  or  dovekies 
(Alle  alle)y  were  swarming  along  the  talus  slopes  on  the 
south  side,  while  Brunnich's  murres  (Uria  lomvia  lomvia) 
and  Puffin's  (Fratercula  arctica  naumanni)  occupied  the 
striking  vertical  cliffs  of  the  north. 

From  the  heights  we  saw  it  was  imp>ossible  to  proceed 
west.  The  heavy  pack  extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach.  Possibly  a  passage  south  was  offered  by  en- 
circling the  islands  and  hugging  the  land  as  far  as  Cai>e 
York.  This  Captain  Bartlett  decided  to  do.  At  Oo- 
loo-set,  on  the  western  end  of  Northumberland  Island, 
the  natives  visited  the  ship,  smiling  and  sweaty  with 
their  hurried  exertions  in  working  their  kayaks  through 
the  rapidly  moving  drift  ice. 

At  the  first  oppK)rtunity  we  moved  south  to  Cape 
Parry,  where  open  water  enabled  the  ship  to  reach 
within  twenty-five  miles  of  Cape  York.  A  call  at  the 
now  deserted  village  of  Akbat  recalled  pleasant  memories 
of  my  visit  two  years  before.  The  once  pleasant,  well- 
warmed,  and  well-lighted  igloo  of  my  host  was  now  but 
a  chaotic  mass  of  rocks,  wet  grass,  and  melting  ice. 
Six  rusty  guns  testified  to  their  uselessness  after  the 
ammunition  had  been  expended. 

Bright  weather  on  the  12th  tempted  Bartlett  to  steer 
boldly  south  into  the  pack  in  the  hopes  of  finding  a 
favorable  lead,  a  somewhat  dangerous  procedure  for  a 
vessel  of  small  power,  but  perfectly  safe  for  the  old 
Neptune. 

21 


316       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [Aug. 

Sixty  years  before,  almost  to  a  day,  the  little  Fox, 
sent  out  by  Lady  Franklin  in  search  of  her  husband. 
Sir  John,  became  tightly  locked  in  the  ice  of  Melville 
Bay.  For  252  days  she  was  held  a  prisoner,  drifting 
1,194  miles  before  she  was  released. 

A  few  hours  of  offensive  work  with  very  little  marked 
progress  justified  our  captain  in  retreating  to  the  lee  of 
Cap>e  York  to  await  a  favorable  change  of  wind.  Seven 
kayaks  were  soon  alongside  and  the  occupants  were 
made  extremely  happy  with  the  gift  of  apples,  bananas, 
tea,  biscuit,  and  tobacco. 

At  noon  of  August  13th  the  Neptune  swung  on  her 
heel  for  another  effort  to  j)enetrate  the  ice-field  which 
lay  between  us  and  home.  At  five  she  was  in  open 
water  and  going  rapidly  southward.  It  was  with  a 
strange  feeling  of  almost  homesickness  that  I  watched 
that  northern  land  dropping  below  the  horizon.  Savage 
at  times,  and  wild  and  desolate,  yet  altogether  kind  to  us 
from  the  Southland,  it  holds  a  warm  place  in  my  heart. 

Our  last  letter  received  from  Ekblaw,  who  left  North 
Star  Bay  in  December,  1916,  announced  his  safe  arrival 
at  Upernavik;  however,  his  feet  were  so  badly  frosted 
that  he  might  possibly  be  compelled  to  await  our  ar- 
rival.    If  possible,  he  would  go  on  to  Godhavn. 

We  had  passed  Ui>ernavik.  Would  he  be  at  Godhavn, 
was  the  important  question,  as  we  steamed  in  by  the 
old  whaler's  lookout  and  rounded  the  rocky  jwint  in- 
closing the  snug  little  harbor  of  Godhavn,  the  capital*of 
the  Inspectorate  of  North  Greenland. 

Hardly  had  our  anchor  touched  the  bottom  before 
Governor  Ohlsen  and  Inspector  Lindow  stepped  over 
the  rail  to  bid  us  welcome.  Mr.  Ekblaw  was  here,  they 
informed  us,  at  the  home  of  a  Mr.  Porsild,  a  scientist 


19171       THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  317 

engaged  in  government  work.  We  felt  that  a  load  had 
been  lifted  from  om*  shoulders.  It  would  not  be  neces- 
sary to  return  to  Upernavik  in  search  of  the  last  member 
of  our  expedition.  He  appeared  within  a  few  hours, 
looking  hale  and  hearty  and  entirely  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  his  Melville  Bay  trip. 

Our  sojourn  at  this  port  was  most  enjoyable,  due  to 
the  kindness  and  the  courtesy  and  the  hospitality  of 
Inspector  Lindow,  Governor  Ohlsen,  and  Mr.  Porsild. 
Everything  was  done  to  cause  us  to  regret  the  briefness 
of  our  stay.  A  visit  to  the  home  of  Mr.  Porsild  caused 
us  to  gape  in  astonishment  at  its  apjx)intments — a 
laboratory,  a  large  library,  a  dining-room,  a  music- 
room.  With  a  happy,  contented  wife  and  a  charming 
daughter,  he  had  found  the  key  to  happiness" — a  key 
which  he  would  never  give  up.  Henceforth  this  would 
be  his  homeland. 

Rich  in  its  association,  that  little  town  of  Lievely, 
so  called  by  the  English  and  Scotch  whalemen,  has  a 
long  and  interesting  story  of  its  own.  Far  the  most 
interesting  relic  of  the  past  is  the  whaler's  lookout  built 
in  1782  of  the  jawbones  of  a  whale.  Here  hardy  seamen 
have  registered  their  names  during  the  long  hours  of 
the  watch.  Dates  were  found  as  far  back  as  1811. 
The  old  rusty  cannon  still  stands  on  guard,  ready  to 
announce  to  the  fleet  anchored  in  the  bight  south  the 
sighting  of  a  whale  or  the  rupture  of  the  pack.  Its 
red  mouth  has  long  been  silent.  The  buildings  at  the 
foot  of  the  hill  have  rotted  away.  The  once  proud  fleet 
no  longer  exists. 

There  in  that  harbor  practically  all  American  expedi- 
tions have  anchored.  The  cairn  outlined  against  the 
sky  on  the  eastern  heights  at  an  altitude  of  2,400  feet 


318      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH   [Aug. 

was  constructed  by  Peary  when  on  his  way  northward 
in  1891.  And  here  "a  little  man  in  a  ragged  flannel 
shirt"  (Doctor  Kane)  steered  his  battered  boat  out  to 
meet  the  relief-ship. 

Within  a  few  yards  distant  from  our  anchored  ship 
lay  ujKjn  the  rocks  the  historic  and  dismantled  FoXy  the 
first  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  fate  of  Sir  John  Franklin 
and  his  129  men.  She  steamed  proudly  into  the  harbor 
sixty  years  ago,  with  colors  flying,  under  the  command 
of  the  gallant  McClintock.  Crippled  with  old  age,  bat- 
tered and  worn  and  abandoned,  she  was  towed  into  the 
harbor  and  to  her  last  resting-place  a  year  before  our 
arrival.  Her  service  had  been  long  and  honorable. 
She  deserved  a  better  fate. 

A  striking  dissimilarity  exists  between  the  natives  of 
Godhavn  and  those  of  the  far  North.  Inferior  in  general 
appearance,  inferior  physically,  they  are  living  witnesses, 
in  spite  of  the  excellent  care  of  the  Danish  authorities, 
to  the  inevitable  and  regrettable  result  of  contact  with 
the  white  races.  For  two  hundred  years  they  have  been 
associated  with  the  Danes.  The  body  has  lengthened, 
the  face  has  narrowed,  the  hair  and  eyes  have  lightened, 
the  ruddy  cheeks  are  gone.  All  are  white,  drawn,  and 
apparently  tubercular.  Their  igloos  and  tents  have  been 
abandoned  for  small,  tight  wooden  shacks,  every  crack 
and  crevice  of  which  is  kept  religiously  closed  in  order 
to  conserve  the  hard-earned  supply  of  peat  gathered  from 
the  hills  for  consumption  in  their  small  iron  stoves. 

My  observations  extend  only  to  this  one  settlement. 
I  understood  from  Inspector  Lindow  that  a  much  hardier 
and  more  energetic  people  are  found  on  the  Whale  Fish 
Islands,  a  few  miles  to  the  south. 

Our  trip  south  began  at  1.30  on  August  17th,  and  was 


THE  OLD  WHALER  S  LOOKOUT  AT  DISCO 


^^^^^■^^^^^^^^■B»i..>fl^^^nk.i^H^^^Hi^HH5ipfli^^B^^I^^^^H 

-■*  ■'"''^^'-^^^Pl'' "^^  #^  .^fer' ":?^ 

W  '^^■kS^^^^K* 

^m 

THE  END  OF  THE  FAMOUS   FOX 


1917]       THE  ARRIVAL  OF  THE  NEPTUNE  319 

without  notable  incident.  Heavy  weather  and  thick 
fog  consigned  most  of  us  to  our  bunks  and  Bartlett  to 
the  bridge.  The  old  Neptune  pounded  her  way  south 
with  a  bandage  drawn  tightly  across  her  nose  to  prevent 
her  from  imbibing  too  much  water.  She  angrily  tossed 
this  aside,  throwing  the  responsibility  upon  Mr.  Cross- 
man,  our  chief  engineer,  to  keep  her  free  of  that  steady 
stream  running  aft  to  the  pumps. 

A  dark  line  on  the  starboard  bow  on  the  morning  of 
the  22d  meant  much  to  us  who  had  been  away  so  long. 
It  was  our  first  view  of  the  Southland — ^Labrador.  Again 
I  saw  those  deep  fiords  with  the  almost  numberless 
islands  and  inside  runs  through  which  I  had  cruised  in 
1910-11-12.  A  simple  people  there,  but  honest,  frank, 
delightful. 

The  hills  came  up  rapidly  out  of  the  sea,  domes  of 
gray  rocks  molded  by  the  oncoming  glaciers  of  aeons 
ago,  now  sterile  and  forbidding,  serving  as  bulwarks 
against  the  onslaught  of  southerly  drifting  ice-fields.  We 
eagerly  scanned  the  inner  reaches  of  the  bays  for  signs 
of  vegetation.     How  we  longed  to  see  trees  again! 

A  few  hours  at  Turnavik,  the  Bartlett  fishing-station, 
and  then  on  again  toward  the  south,  sending  our  de- 
spatches by  wireless  to  the  Makkovik  Station  as  we 
passed. 

We  encountered  our  first  real  touch  with  the  world's 
great  war  on  the  morning  of  the  24th.  As  we  approached 
Sydney  Harbor,  a  power-boat  shot  out  from  the  eastern 
shore.  We  were  boarded,  inspected,  and  given  per- 
mission to  proceed  through  the  gates  of  the  long  line 
of  chained  jx)ntoons,  our  entrance  from  the  quietness 
and  peace  of  the  North  into  the  turmoil  and  bloodshed 
of  warring  nations. 


XVI 

CONCLUSION 

MATERIALISTS  are  inclined  to  doubt  the  sanity 
of  men  who  head  their  ships  toward  the  ends  of 
the  earth  in  search  of  new  lands  and  new  truths.  Only 
ice  and  snow  are  visualized;  and  this  is  so  remote  that 
it  is  deemed  of  but  little  value  in  its  contribution  toward 
the  wealth  of  the  world. 

"What  are  you  going  to  do  with  the  land  when  you 
find  it?  Can  you  raise  wheat  on  it?"  were  the  practical 
questions  put  to  me  by  a  Wall  Street  banker. 

To  him  the  obliteration  of  a  vast  unknown  space  by 
the  substitution  of  well-defined  coast-lines  of  a  great  con- 
tinent was  a  useless  exj)enditure  of  time  and  money,  unless 
that  land  could  be  inhabited  and  its  resources  utilized. 
Knowledge  of  the  fact  that  land  exists  there,  supplanting 
ignorance  and  conjecture;  its  physical  characteristics, 
which  are  but  another  chapter  in  the  history  of  our  globe; 
its  birds,  many  of  which  pass  our  doors  in  spring  and 
fall;  its  animals,  existing  where  life  seems  impossible;  its 
bright-colored  flowers  blossoming  at  the  very  edge  of 
eternal  snows;  its  climate,  exerting  such  a  vast  influence 
upon  southern  countries — all  these  considerations  are 
tossed  aside  as  irrelevant;  they  cannot  be  made  to  return 
dividends — that  is,  in  the  Wall  Street  sense. 


CONCLUSION  321 

Space  will  not  permit  a  review  of  what  the  Northern 
traveler  has  contributed,  not  only  to  the  various 
branches  of  science,  but  to  our  actual  welfare.  Man 
has  been  content  to  leave  home,  to  live  in  savage 
places,  to  plod  along  through  deep  snows,  to  land 
upon  primeval  shores,  to  suffer  privations  and  dis- 
comforts, and  all  this  in  order  to  add  his  mite  to 
the  sum  of  the  world  knowledge.  And  man  will  con- 
tinue to  do  these  foolish  things  and  to  undergo  these 
useless  hardships  until  the  sum  of  human  knowledge  is 
complete. 

We  hoj>e  that  our  four  years  in  the  North  have  added 
something  to  the  world's  storehouse  which  may  be  of 
interest  and  value,  geographically  and  scientifically. 
Summed  up,  the  results  stand  as  follows: 

1.  The  disproving  of  the  existence  of  Crocker  Land 
as  placed  upon  our  latest  maps. 

2.  Evidence  of  the  existence  of  new  land  far  to  the 
west  of  our  last  camp  on  the  Polar  Sea. 

3.  A  survey  of  a  previously  unexplored  stretch  of 
coast-line  on  the  northwest  shores  of  Axel  Heiberg 
Island. 

4.  Exploration  and  survey  of  the  Greely  Fiord. 

5.  The  first  attainment  of  King  Christian  Island,  a 
land  seen  in  1900  by  the  Sverdrup  Expedition. 

6.  A  survey  of  the  northern,  eastern,  and  part  of  the 
southern  shores  of  North  Cornwall. 

7.  A  survey  of  the  eastern  coast  of  Ellesmere  Land 
from  Cape  Sabine  to  Clarence  Head.       | 

8.  The  discovery  of  nine  new  islands. 

9.  A  resurvey  of  the  North  Greenland  coast  from 
McCormick  Bay  to  Rensselaer  Harbor. 

10.  A  detailed  survey  with  soundings  of  Foulke  Fiord, 


322      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

11.  Discovery  of  coal  in  Bay  Fiord  and  along  the 
southern  shores  of  Axel  Hieberg  Island. 

12.  Recovery  of  three  records  of  Dr.  Elisha  Kent  Kane 
of  the  Second  Grinnell  Expedition  of  1853-55. 

13.  Recovery  of  two  records  and  section  of  silk  flag 
of  Rear-Admiral  Peary. 

14.  Recovery  of  two  records  of  Sir  George  Nares  of 
the  British  North  Pole  Expedition  of  1875-76. 

15.  Recovery  of  mail  (three  j)ersonal  letters)  left  by 
Sir  Allen  Young  at  Cape  Isabella  in  1876  for  the  British 
Expedition  under  the  command  of  Nares. 

16.  The  securing  of  two  sets  of  the  very  valuable  eggs 
of  the  knot  {T ring  a  canutus). 

17.  A  three  months'  series  of  tidal  observations  at 
Etah,  North  Greenland. 

18.  A  compilation  of  3,000  words  of  the  Smith  Sound 
Eskimo  language. 

19.  Five  thousand  five  hundred  photographs. 

20.  Ten  thousand  feet  of  motion-picture  film. 

21.  Extensive  work  in  geology,  botany,  ornithology, 
meteorology,  and  ethnology. 


APPENDIX  I 

THE   SUMMER   AT   NORTH   STAR   BAY 
W.    ELMER   EKBLAW 

Whenever  I  consider  in  retrospect  the  summer  that 
Tanquary  and  I  lived  at  North  Star  Bay,  over  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty  miles  from  Etah,  our  headquarters  vil- 
lage, I  can  laugh  at  the  unpleasantness  and  worry  and 
hunger  that  made  it  drag  interminably  for  us;  but  at 
the  time  our  situation  was  so  serious,  and  continually 
threatened  to  become  so  precarious,  that  it  was  anything 
but  humorous. 

Prevented  by  frozen  toes  from  completing  the  dash 
for  Crocker  Land  upon  which  I  had  started  with  Mac- 
Millan  and  Green,  I  loafed  about  the  house  at  Etah 
throughout  the  month  of  April,  waiting  for  my  toes  to 
heal.  Restless  from  confinement  within  doors,  and 
eager  to  be  out  doing  something,  I  could  hardly  await 
the  doctor's  permission  to  tramp  around.  During  my 
imprisonment  in  the  house,  Peter  Freuchen,  the  Danish 
factor  at  the  trading-station  at  North  Star  Bay,  had  been 
our  guest,  and  when  the  time  came  for  him  to  think  of 
returning  to  his  station  he  urgently  invited  Tanquary 
and  me  to  accompany  him  and  to  stay  with  him  through 
the  summer  as  his  guest,  while  we  engaged  in  our  various 


824      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

scientific  studies  of  the  rather  large  area  about  North 
Star  Bay. 

Though  we  were  somewhat  reluctant  to  leave  Etah, 
the  invitation  was  so  urgently  repeated,  and  the  opp>or- 
tunity  for  valuable  scientific  work  seemed  so  good  that 
we  finally  decided  to  go.  We  were  earnestly  supported 
in  our  decision  by  Doctor  Hunt,  whom  Mac  had  left 
in  charge  of  the  station  and  who  insisted  that  it  was 
our  duty  to  go. 

As  soon  as  we  had  made  our  decision  we  began  assem- 
bling the  equipment  and  supplies  that  we  expected  to 
need  for  the  summer's  work.  Because  of  Peter  Freu- 
chen's  insistent  assurances  that  he  had  ample  food  for 
all  our  needs,  and  his  urgent  request  that  we  refrain 
from  carrying  with  us  anything  but  a  little  fruit  and 
some  other  tinned  goods,  we  made  no  attempt  to  take 
any  substantial  supplies  with  us. 

The  first  week  in  May  we  left  Etah  for  North  Star 
Bay,  part  of  a  long  train  of  eleven  dog-sledges.  At  that 
time  the  midnight  sun  was  two  weeks  old  and  travel 
was  easy  and  pleasant.  Just  south  of  the  Cape  Alex- 
ander glacier  our  party  met  another  party  of  thirteen 
sledges,  northward-bound.  This  was  probably  one  of 
the  largest  groups  of  dogs,  sledges,  and  Eskimos  ever 
gathered  together  at  one  time  in  that  part  of  Eskimo- 
land.  For  almost  half  a  day  \^^  stayed  there,  boiling 
coffee,  walrus  meat,  seal  meat,  and  whatever  else  with 
which  the  sledges  were  provided.  Everybody  was  -hap- 
py, everybody  loath  to  go  on,  and  only  when  the  dogs 
became  so  unruly  that  a  general  mix-up  threatened  did 
the  assembly  break  up. 

We  stopi>ed  a  few  days  at  Nerkre,  where  most  of  the 
tribe  was  congregated  for  the  annual  spring  walrus-hunt. 


APPENDIX  I  325 

Thence  we  went  by  the  outside  route  around  Cape 
Parry,  stopping  for  a  day  at  Keatek;  at  Keatek  the  first 
pair  of  snow-buntings  appeared  from  the  Southland,  the 
usual  signal  for  the  Eskimos  to  move  from  their  stone 
igloos  to  their  sealskin  tents,  or  twpiks.  The  ice  was 
generally  good,  and  we  made  rapid  progress  to  Umanak, 
the  Eskimo  name  for  North  Star  Bay.  Except  for  a 
violent  blizzard  in  which  we  became  lost  crossing  Whale 
Sound,  and  which  forced  us  to  build  snow  houses  near 
Cape  Parry  to  shelter  us  from  the  storm,  our  further  way 
to  North  Star  Bay  was  without  incident. 

Just  as  we  came  driving  up  to  the  trading-station 
from  the  north,  Sechmann  Rossbach,  the  catechist,  or 
teacher,  with  his  family  and  a  number  of  other  Eskimos, 
came  driving  in  from  the  south,  having  come  from  Danish 
Greenland.  We  little  anticipated  then  that  before  the 
summer  was  over  we  should  have  to  thank  Sechmann 
for  keeping  us  from  starvation. 

Peter  Freuchen  established  us  in  his  own  house  and 
we  made  ourselves  as  comfortable  as  limited  facilities 
j)ennitted.  A  little  misgiving  entered  our  minds  when 
Peter  told  us  that  during  his  absence  the  Eskimos  had 
eaten  nearly  all  his  provisions  and  had  made  way  with 
all  his  coffee,  sugar,  and  tinned  goods,  but  we  felt  that 
we  could  readily  live  on  meat  and  blubber  if  need  be, 
never  dreaming  that  in  a  land  where  game  was  relatively 
so  abundant  we  should  ever  lack  meat. 

The  days  passed  pleasantly  enough.  Hunting  was 
apparently  poor,  for  meat  was  difficult  to  get  from  the 
Eskimos.  We  made  serious  inroads  up>on  the  few  sup- 
plies we  had  brought  from  Etah;  though  we  wasted 
nothing,  we  made  no  particular  effort  to  save  anything, 
relying  upon  Peter's  assurance  that  just  as  soon  as  the 


S26      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

summer  opened  an  abundance  of  meat  would  be  forth- 
coming. By  the  1st  of  June,  not  quite  a  month  after 
our  arrival,  most  of  our  tinned  supplies  were  gone,  even 
though  we  had  despatched  several  sledges  to  Etah  after 
more. 

An  attack  of  snow-blindness  early  in  the  summer 
taught  me  a  valuable  lesson.  It  was  in  the  last  week 
of  May  that  I  went  out  for  a  seal-hunt  with  Mene  Wal- 
lace, the  New  York  Eskimo  celebrity.  For  over  thirty 
hours  we  hunted  steadily.  I  used  no  sun  glasses,  for  I 
felt  no  fear  of  snow-blindness;  but  throughout  the  hunt 
I  taxed  my  eyes  to  the  utmost,  searching  the  ice  for  the 
sleeping  seals  with  my  big  Leitz  No.  10  field-glasses. 
When  finally  we  made  camp,  at  the  head  of  Grenville 
Bay,  instead  of  sleeping,  we  hunted  ptarmigan,  of 
which  we  found  several  flocks.  After  a  luncheon  of  seal 
meat  we  started  home.  My  eyes  were  heavy  and  tired, 
but  I  thought  nothing  of  it  until  I  was  almost  half-way 
home.  Just  after  we  had  come  out  of  Grenville  Bay 
and  turned  up  Wolstenholme  Sound  toward  North  Star 
Bay,  I  began  to  feel  sharp  pain  in  my  eyes  and  my 
sight  became  blurred.  The  pain  increased,  and  my  eyes 
became  so  bloodshot  that  what  little  I  could  see  looked 
red. 

We  got  into  the  station  late  in  the  afternoon.  Soon 
afterward  I  went  to  bed.  By  midnight  I  was  almost  rav- 
ing mad  with  the  pain,  and  I  had  to  call  Tanquary  and 
Peter  to  help  me.  For  nearly  three  days  they  dropi>ed 
cocaine  into  my  eyes  at  frequent  intervals,  and  gave 
me  occasional  hyp>odermics  of  morphine;  whenever  the 
effect  of  the  drugs  waned  the  pain  grew  so  excruciating 
that  I  became  almost  irrational.  Never  have  I  suffered 
such  keen  or  intense  agony.     I  felt  sure  I  should  never 


APPENDIX  I  827 

regain  my  sight.  I  could  not  imagine  how  my  eyes 
could  ever  be  normal  after  such  a  paroxysm  of  torture. 
When  finally  the  pain  abated  and  I  could  begin  to  see 
again,  I  was  about  the  most  thankful  mortal  that  had 
ever  been  in  the  Northland.  In  a  few  days  my  eyes 
were  clear  and  apparently  as  strong  as  ever,  but  after 
that  experience  I  never  went  without  colored  glasses 
while  out  sledging. 

Before  my  eyes  had  quite  recovered,  Peter  suddenly 
decided  that  he  would  have  to  leave  for  a  bear-hunt 
on  Melville  Bay  and  to  get  some  supplies  he  had  cached 
at  Cape  Seddon.  This  trip  he  had  proposed,  with  the 
request  that  I  accompany  him,  a  month  before,  and  all 
through  May  while  I  had  expected  every  day  to  start 
he  had  found  one  reason  or  another  to  postpone  going. 
Now  when  I  was  unable  to  get  out,  he  abruptly  an- 
nounced that  he  and  two  Eskimos  would  go  at  once. 

During  his  absence  Tanquary  and  I  had  no  little  diffi- 
culty subsisting.  Our  supplies  were  gone,  the  Eskimos 
were  short  of  meat,  and  we  had  no  dogs  to  go  out  hunt- 
ing. Had  not  Mene  helped  us  out  by  killing  occasional 
seal  for  us  at  this  time,  we  should  repeatedly  have  been 
hard  pressed  for  food.  Finally  Sechmann  Rossbach 
asked  us  to  share  the  mission  station  with  him,  and  we 
accepted  his  invitation.  A  few  days  before  Peter  re- 
turned, we  moved  from  his  house,  taking  our  belongings 
with  us.  Sechmann's  wife  had  arranged  one  of  the 
largest  rooms  in  the  mission  very  cozily  for  us,  and 
throughout  the  rest  of  our  stay  at  North  Star  Bay,  we 
were  most  comfortably  situated. 

Peter  returned  from  his  bear-hunt  about  the  middle 
of  June.  He  stayed  at  his  house  but  a  few  days,  and 
then,  on  the  plea  that  he  would  have  to  lay  in  a  supply 


328      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

of  eider  eggs,  went  to  Saunders  Island,  taking  with  him 
all  of  the  few  supplies  left.  Tanquary  and  I  had  long 
before  realized  that  Peter's  hospitality  had  come  to  an 
end  and  that  we  could  depend  no  longer  upon  him  for 
any  assistance;  Peter  apparently  meant  well,  but  he 
shed  resjx)nsibility  as  a  seal  sheds  water. 

We  were  thus  thrown  ui)on  Sechmann's  bounty,  and, 
though  he  was  "only  an  Eskimo,"  he  proved  to  be  a 
gentleman  and  a  true  friend.  He  shared  his  every 
bit  of  food  with  us,  hunted  persistently  every  day  that 
was  fit;  throughout  the  summer  he  was  never  sullen, 
discouraged,  or  angry.  Many  times  we  were  without 
food  in  his  house  for  days  at  a  time,  but  his  hospitality 
and  kindness  never  changed.  He  measured  up  to  a  high 
standard  as  a  man  and  a  Christian.  Many  a  white  man 
would  not  have  been  so  truly  hospitable  and  generous. 

All  summer  long  Tank  and  I  worked  assiduously  at 
our  sciences.  The  field  was  new,  large,  and  deeply  in- 
teresting. Had  not  the  food  problem  bothered  us  con- 
tinually we  should  have  enjoyed  the  season  very  much. 
Almost  every  day  we  were  out  on  long  tramps  over  the 
rough  country  back  of  the  station  or  sledging  to  some 
place  about  the  Sound,  where  we  wished  to  study. 
Birds  were  numerous,  the  vegetation  relatively  luxuriant, 
and  the  geology  varied.  Tanquary  found  the  region 
well  worth  the  researches  of  an  entomologist. 

But  always  the  shortage  of  food  worried  us.  Several 
times  through  the  summer,  when  the  weather  prevented 
hunting,  we  could  see  starvation  staring  us  in  the  face. 
As  the  summer  advanced,  the  conditions  grew  worse 
and  worse,  and  the  situation  more  critical.  We  had  to 
wait  until  relief  came  by  boat,  for  sledging  to  Etah  was 
impossible  after  the  beginning  of  June.     Our  hoi>e  was 


APPENDIX  I  829 

pinned  to  a  relief-ship,  and  we  nearly  wore  out  the  field- 
glasses  watching  the  horizon  toward  the  mouth  of  the 
sound,  where  we  ought  first  to  see  a  ship.  If  either  of  us 
woke  at  night  he  went  to  the  door  to  take  a  look.  All 
the  time  we  were  hungry;  I  could  cordially  sympathize 
with  Tanquary's  remark  one  night  as  we  crawled  into 
our  sleeping-bags,  "These  people  that  go  in  for  high 
thinking  and  plain  living  don't  meet  my  approval  at  all." 

The  strain  on  our  stomachs  was  hardly  worse  than 
the  strain  on  our  tempers.  We  were  irritable  and  sensi- 
tive and  sometimes  quarrelsome.  I  remember  well  one 
day  when  Tanquary  had  sent  me  out  on  a  wild-goose 
chase  over  boggy  and  rocky  country  to  try  to  kill  some 
eider  duck.  The  duck  were  wont  to  come  in  close 
enough  to  land  to  be  within  gun-shot  range,  along  a  sand- 
bar upon  which  they  fed  at  low  water.  I  found  when 
I  got  to  the  place  that  the  tide  had  just  begun  to  ebb. 
I  came  back  more  than  a  little  indignant,  and  remarked 
that  it  was  perfectly  evident  that  not  all  people  had  the 
same  conception  of  what  constituted  "low  water." 
Tanquary  resented  the  tone  of  voice  with  which  I  said 
it,  and  retorted  in  kind.  One  word  led  to  another,  with 
the  result  that  we  were  hardly  on  speaking  terms  for  a 
week. 

Hoover's  "wheatless  days'*  long  ago  began  in  the 
Arctic.  Tanquary  and  I  were  without  bread  nearly  all 
summer.  We  carefully  conserved  all  our  meager  sup- 
plies. When  first  it  became  evident  that  we  should 
face  shortage  of  food,  we  took  careful  stock  of  what 
we  had.  Among  the  few  things  we  had  left  was  part 
of  a  small  tin  of  prunes.  We  counted  the  prunes,  and 
found  that  if  relief  reached  us  by  August  we  could  make 
the  prunes  last  if  we  each  ate  four  a  day. 


S30       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Hence,  every  day  when  we  came  in  hungry  from 
om*  long  tramps,  we  brewed  tea,  which  we  drank  with- 
out sugar  or  milk — of  which  we  had  neither — and  ate 
our  four  prunes.  Tank  always  carefully  gathered  the 
seeds  together  and  took  them  out  to  a  big  flat  rock  be- 
fore the  house,  where  he  cracked  them  and  ate  the  ker- 
nels. He  told  me  several  times  that  he  derived  a  lot 
of  nourishment  from  them  and  that  he  expected  them 
to  keep  him  alive  at  least  a  week  after  I  had  succumbed. 
As  it  was,  we  had  eaten  our  last  prune  almost  two  weeks 
before  relief  finally  came. 

The  only  untoward  event  of  the  summer  was  a  near- 
drowning  in  which  I  was  the  lone  actor  without  any 
spectators.  I  was  returning  from  Saunders  Island  the 
last  day  of  June,  over  a  route  by  which  I  had  gone  out 
quite  safely  only  two  days  before.  A  warm  sun  and 
high  tides  had  rotted  the  ice  in  the  interval,  so  that 
on  my  return  I  had  to  pick  my  way  most  carefully 
among  the  pools  of  open  water  and  thin  ice.  At  one  of 
the  most  treacherous  reaches  I  thought  I  saw  a  long 
stretch  of  good  going  that  lay  between  two  icebergs 
about  a  hundred  yards  apart.  I  started  across  it,  and 
had  just  about  got  to  the  middle  when  the  whole  busi- 
ness dropped  into  the  water.  It  was  but  the  shell  of 
a  drift,  with  all  the  ice  underneath  worn  away  by  the 
tide  sweeping  between  the  bergs. 

My  dogs  and  sledge  and  I  dropped  into  the  slush; 
I  hung  on  to  the  sledge,  but  I  felt  sure  that  it  was  only 
a  question  of  time  until  the  scene  would  be  ended  and 
the  curtain  dropped.  The  slush  was  too  thick  to  get 
through.  My  king-dog,  a  big,  shaggy,  white  fellow, 
with  Newfoundland  blood  in  his  veins,  did  not  give  up, 
however,  though  the  rest  of  the  dogs  in  the  team  de- 


APPENDIX  I  831 

spalred  after  a  few  efforts.  The  big  white  dog  kept 
threshing  away,  and  finally,  with  the  little  help  I  could 
give  him,  got  to  the  edge  of  the  j)ool,  and,  at  last,  I  too. 
Fortunately  the  day  was  clear  and  sunshiny,  and  though 
my  clothes  were  all  soaked,  I  did  not  freeze  on  my  way 
home  to  the  station. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  sights  at  North  Star 
Bay  was  the  station  fur-storehouse.  The  summer  Tank 
and  I  were  there  it  was  hung  with  about  3,000  blue-fox 
skins  in  bunches  of  fifty,  graded  according  to  color,  and 
300  white  in  bunches  of  fifty,  too.  The  collection  of 
furs  was  beautiful.  The  soft,  glossy,  fluffy  furs  ready 
for  market  were  wealth  and  luxury  that  a  queen  might 
have  desired  to  add  to  her  wardrobe.  Yet  the  wealth 
of  furs  ceased  to  interest  us  long  before  the  summer 
was  over,  for  our  chief  thought  was  getting  away. 

We  had  almost  given  up  hope  of  relief  that  summer. 
We  had  worn  a  hole  in  the  horizon  looking  so  hard  for 
a  ship.  Every  day  we  wondered  when  we  should  agaim 
have  enough  to  eat.  The  ice  was  so  slow  in  going  that 
we  feared  it  was  going  to  stay.  Then  on  the  12th  of 
August  the  long-awaited  relief  came. 

I  had  been  back  among  the  mountains  seeking  to 
assuage  by  hard  work  the  ever-present  pangs  of  hunger. 
My  feet  were  so  stone-bruised  that  I  could  not  walk 
fast;  yet  when  I  came  to  the  crest  of  the  divide  back  of 
the  station  and  saw  first  the  Danish  colors  waving  from 
the  flagstaff,  I  knew  that  a  ship  of  some  kind  had  come, 
and  tried  my  best  to  run.  Finally  I  could  look  over  the 
ridge  into  the  little  bay,  and  there  I  saw  the  George 
Borup,  our  motor-boat,  lying  at  anchor. 

Fast  as  I  could  hobble  down  the  mountain  I  hurried 
toward  her.    Doctor  Hunt  and  Jot  met  me  in  a  whale- 

22 


832      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

boat  at  the  shore,  and  took  me  out  to  the  motor-boat. 
Tanquary  had  already  been  partly  filled  up;  but  after 
I  had  eaten  a  can  of  pears  he  helped  me  to  eat  buckwheat 
cakes  that  Jot  had  started  baking  as  soon  as  we  got 
aboard.  Jot  swears  to  this  day  that  between  us  we  ate 
a  hundred  and  that  I  took  the  lion's  share. 

Though  except  for  the  near-starvation  the  summer 
at  North  Bay  had  been  pleasant  enough,  never  were  two 
fellows  more  glad  to  get  away  from  a  place  than  Tan- 
quary and  I  were  to  get  away  from  North  Star  Bay.  We 
gave  Sechmann  all  that  could  be  spared  from  the  motor- 
boat;  though  later,  the  following  winter,  we  gave  him 
generously  of  our  stores  and  j>ersonal  equipment  when 
he  came  to  Etah,  we  felt  that  we  could  never  repay  him 
for  his  kindness  and  hospitality.  Then  we  packed  our 
equipment,  got  it  aboard  the  George  Borup,  and,  when 
Mac  gave  the  signal  to  start,  took  our  places  in  the 
boat  without  one  regret  that  the  summer  was  over  and 
that  we  were  to  be  back  at  headquarters  once  more. 


APPENDIX  n 

ON   UNKNOWN   SHORES;     THE    TRAVERSE    OF   GRANT    AND 
ELLESMERE  LANDS 

W.   ELMER  EKBLAW 

Early  in  the  fall  of  1914,  when  MacMillan  outlined 
the  tentative  plans  for  the  work  of  our  party  for  the 
season  of  1915,  he  designated  as  the  share  for  Tank  and 
me  the  exploration  of  Ellesmere  and  Grant  lands  along 
the  circuitous  route  from  Etah  to  Cai>e  Sabine;  across 
Ellesmere  Land  from  Beitstad  Fjord  to  Bay  Fjord; 
down  Bay  Fjord  and  Eureka  Sound  to  the  mouth  of 
Greely  Fjord;  up  Greely  Fjord  (to  include  the  ex- 
ploration of  all  its  tributary  fjords) ;  across  Grant  Land 
by  way  of  Lake  Hazen  to  Lady  Franklin  Bay;  and  thence 
home  to  Etah  along  the  west  coast  of  Greenland. 

The  Greely  Fjord — Lake  Hazen  pKDrtion  of  the  route — 
constituted  a  most  promising  field  for  exploration  and 
pioneer  scientific  investigation,  a  field  of  which  long 
stretches  had  never  been  explored.  The  successful 
completion  of  this  work  would  connect  the  exploration 
accomplished  by  Lockwood  and  Brainard  of  the  Greely 
party,  working  from  Lady  Franklin  Bay,  with  that  done 
by  Fosheim  and  Raanes  of  the  Sverdrup  expedition, 
working  from  Jones  Sound,  and  leave  unexplored,  of  all 


S34       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

the  coast  of  Ellesmere  Land,  only  two  small  fjords 
opening  out  up>on  Fridtjof  Nansen  Sound.  The  route 
would  be  about  1,200  miles  in  length;  with  favorable 
sledging  conditions  and  no  accidents  of  consequence, 
the  time  required  to  complete  the  work  should  be  about 
three  months. 

Later  in  the  winter,  MacMillan  changed  the  plans 
so  that  I  should  go  alone  with  two  Eskimo  companions 
to  Lake  Hazen  by  the  route  originally  proposed,  while 
Tank  would  sledge  up  along  the  east  coast  of  Ellesmere 
Land  to  meet  me  at  Lake  Hazen.  For  a  month  or  so 
MacMillan  considered  having  me  stay  with  my  Eskimos 
on  the  shores  of  Lake  Hazen  through  the  summer,  to 
make  an  exhaustive  investigation  of  the  interior  of 
Grant  Land  about  the  head  of  Greely  Fjord  and  about 
the  lake;  but  because  he  felt  sure  that  a  ship  would 
come  for  us  some  time  that  summer  he  finally  decided 
that  such  a  course  would  not  be  best.  As  events  after- 
ward shaped  themselves  with  the  freezing  in  of  our  relief- 
ship  on  the  Greenland  coast,  I  could  have  stayed  there 
throughout  the  year,  accomplished  a  whole  season's 
exploration  and  research,  and  come  back  when  the 
ice  formed,  without  causing  any  worry,  trouble,  or 
delay. 

My  preparations  for  the  trip  began  early.  Except 
^at  MacMillan  outlined  roughly  the  route  that  he 
wished  me  to  follow  and  stated  in  general  the  pmposes 
of  my  journey,  he  gave  me  only  a  few  explicit  instruc- 
tions; he  left  nearly  all  the  details  of  the  plans  and 
preparations  to  my  own  discretion.  He  provided  me 
the  best  equipment  available,  to  that  end  placing  at 
my  disposal  the  resources  of  the  expedition  and  turning 
over  to  me  his  own  team  of  dogs,  one  of  the  best,  if  not 


APPENDIX  II  8SS 

the  best,  in  the  Northland.  Every  member  of  our 
party  assisted  me  in  all  possible  ways.  Jot  made  my 
sledge,  lashed  it  together  himself,  and  gave  to  it  the 
thought  and  care  he  would  have  given  if  it  had  been  he 
who  was  to  use  it. 

After  much  careful  consideration  of  the  various 
Eskimos  available  as  companions  for  the  whole  way, 
I  chose  Esayoo  to  accompany  me,  one  of  Peary's  former 
trusties,  a  sage  old  hunter  uj)on  whose  judgment  and 
loyalty  I  felt  I  could  rely  without  any  doubt  or  hesitancy, 
and  E-took-a-shoo,  whose  courage  and  ability  had  been 
thoroughly  tested. 

Esayoo  was  a  middle-aged  man  who  had  not  yet  lost 
his  strength  and  agility.  He  was  thorough  master  of 
the  technique  of  Arctic  travel  and  jwssessed  to  a  high 
degree  the  ability  to  find  game,  to  pick  his  way  through 
new  and  strange  lands,  and  to  derive  from  the  dogs  the 
maximum  distance  of  travel  without  wearing  them  down. 

E-took-a-shoo  was  a  young  man,  one  of  the  strongest 
in  the  Smith  Sound  tribe.  He  was  an  expert  hunter, 
especially  of  land  animals,  and  a  good  dog-driver.  He 
not  only  was  the  fastest  builder  of  snow  houses  in  the 
tribe,  too,  but  he  appreciated  his  superiority  in  the  art 
and  enjoyed  exhibiting  it.  He  was  loyal,  capable,  and 
energetic,  a  splendid  supplement  to  old  Esayoo. 

On  these  two  men  I  was  sure  I  could  depend  to  the 
utmost.  They  would  both  be  loyal,  both  energetic, 
and  both  wise  in  the  ways  of  the  trail.  Though  Esayoo 
lacked  the  energy  and  dash  of  youth,  he  made  up  for 
them  in  the  wisdom  and  judgment  of  years  and  experi- 
ence; though  E-took-a-shoo  lacked  stability  and  the 
patience  that  comes  with  years,  he  comi)ensated  for  them 
in  willingness  and  strength.    They  were  an  ideal  pair. 


8S6      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

As  supporting  parties  to  help  us  over  the  first  parts 
of  our  route  and  to  get  us  well  started,  I  chose  two  of 
the  older  hunters,  Oobloyah  and  Okpuddyshao,  to  go 
with  us  to  the  divide  of  Ellesmere  Land;  and  two  of  the 
younger  fellows,  Arklio  and  Nukapingwa,  to  help  us  as 
far  as  conditions  necessitated.  Of  these  men  I  would 
as  willingly  have  depended  upon  Oobloyah  for  rare 
good  judgment  and  cordial  loyalty  as  upon  my  best 
friend.  In  my  opinion  he  is  as  fine  a  man,  even  though 
an  Eskimo,  as  one  can  find  anywhere  among  any  people. 
The  others  were  almost  as  good. 

Because  my  route  was  circuitous  I  should  not  come 
back  over  any  part  of  my  trail,  so  I  could  make  no  caches 
of  supplies  as  I  went  along,  to  provide  for  my  return. 
For  a  trip  as  long  as  mine  would  be  I  could  not  hope 
to  carry  enough  provisions  for  the  whole  way.  Hence 
I  decided  to  reduce  my  supplies  to  a  minimum  and  de- 
pend upKjn  the  country  for  the  game  necessary  to  keep 
us  and  our  dogs  in  food.  With  plenty  of  ammunition 
and  good  rifles  for  every  one  of  us,  I  felt  sure  that  we 
could  kill  enough  game  if  there  were  any.  MacMillan 
also  promised  to  have  ready  for  us  six  caches  on  the 
Greenland  coast  against  our  retiun,  should  we  be  in 
need  of  food  or  other  supplies. 

I  set  St.  Patrick's  Day  as  the  time  of  my  starting,  for 
I  am  Irish  enough  to  believe  that  an  undertaking  begun 
on  that  day  is  almost  certain  of  success;  but  because  of 
scarcity  of  dog  food,  I  was  delayed  until  March  24th. 
As  is  always  the  case  when  an  expedition  makes  ready 
to  leave,  every  one  of  the  party  was  eager  to  be  off,  and 
every  one  at  headquarters  was  even  more  eager  to  be 
rid  of  us.  The  confusion  and  congestion  antecedent 
to  departure  are  always  annoying. 


APPENDIX  II  837 

The  weather  was  not  propitious  as  we  set  out.  The 
wind  blew  strong  and  cold  at  the  house,  and  we  could 
tell  by  the  driving  clouds  overhead  that  almost  a  gale 
raged  beyond  Sunrise  Point.  We  decided,  however,  to 
make  the  attempt,  and  after  bidding  good-by  to  those 
left  behind  we  slid  our  laden  sledges  down  the  bank 
to  the  ice,  hitched  our  dogs,  and  dashed  away.  In  an 
hour  we  were  well  by  Sunrise  Point,  but  there  we  en- 
tered the  rough  ice  that  lay  between  Lyttleton  Island 
and  the  mainland;  in  the  teeth  of  a  howling  northwest 
blizzard  we  toiled  laboriously  for  eight  hours  through 
the  chaos  of  broken  ice  blocks,  with  snow  partly  filling 
the  hollows  between. 

Tired  and  worn,  and  wet  with  perspiration,  and  our 
fur  clothes  matted  with  frozen  snow,  we  finally  got  to 
Cape  Olsen,  only  eight  or  ten  miles  from  Etah.  In- 
stead of  making  camp,  we  chose  to  return  to  head- 
quarters, where  we  might  dry  out  our  clothes.  We  left 
our  loads  on  the  ice-foot  and  started  back.  With  light 
sledges  and  with  the  wind  behind  us,  we  covered  in  less 
than  two  hours  the  distance  it  had  taken  us  all  day  to 
make  going  out. 

The  25th  was  a  stormy  day,  and  though  we  essayed 
an  attempt  to  leave,  we  found  a  driving  blizzard  swirling 
beyond  Sunrise  Point  and  came  back  to  Etah.  On  the 
26th  the  storm  had  not  abated;  but  about  six  o'clock  in 
the  evening  Oobloyah  came  to  me  to  state  that  he 
thought  the  storm  had  sj>ent  itself  and  that  it  would 
be  wise  to  set  out.  We  gave  our  dogs  the  last  of  the 
walrus  meat  procurable  at  headquarters,  and  again 
dashed  away. 

In  a  short  time  we  reached  the  supplies  and  equip- 
ment that  we  had  cached,  loaded  them  on  our  sledges, 


838       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

and  took  the  trail  again.  The  ice  was  still  rough,  but 
with  better  weather  we  were  able  to  pick  our  way  more 
easily,  so  that  we  made  much  better  time.  The  mid- 
night sun  had  not  yet  risen  above  the  horizon,  but  at 
two  o'clock,  when  we  made  camp  on  the  rocks  at  the 
foot  of  the  cliffs  of  C.  Hatherton,  the  clouds  above  us 
were  rosy  with  the  rays  of  sunrise.  Since  the  tempera- 
ture was  thirty-six  below  zero  as  we  boiled  our  meat  and 
tea  for  supper,  we  were  quite  content  to  get  into  our 
sleeping-bags. 

We  rose  after  a  few  hours'  sleep  and  went  on.  The 
going  kept  getting  better  as  we  proceeded.  The  last 
rough  ice  we  encountered  was  just  off  Cairn  Point, 
where  we  had  to  cut  our  way  with  our  picks  for  i>erhaps 
half  a  mile.  Once  through  this  last  patch  of  chaos, 
we  stopped  long  enough  to  ix>lish  our  runners  and  boil 
some  tea,  before  starting  out  across  Smith  Sound. 

I  have  never  driven  over  better  ice  than  that  which 
extended  before  us  as  far  as  we  could  see.  It  was  hard 
as  steel,  and  covered  with  just  enough  snow  to  give  the 
dogs  sure  footing  without  bailing  up  between  their  toes. 
The  dogs  sped  along  with  our  heavily  laden  sledges 
without  any  effort  whatever.  In  a  narrow  crack  in  the 
young  ice  seals  kept  bobbing  up,  exciting  both  dogs  and 
Eskimos  and  stimulating  us  all  with  the  prospect  of 
fresh  meat  for  camp.  We  made  camp  beside  a  small  ice- 
berg in  a  pressure  ridge  that  we  encountered,  where  we 
built  two  snow  houses  for  the  night.  E-took-a-shoo  tar- 
pooned  a  fine  young  seal,  fulfilling  our  hopes  of  fresh 
meat. 

Though  we  did  not  get  into  our  sleeping-bags  until  an 
hour  after  midnight,  we  were  well  fed  and  warm,  though 
the  temperature  was  lower  than  the  night  before.    At 


APPENDIX  II  3S9 

seven-thirty  the  next  morning  we  hit  the  trail.  As  dur- 
ing the  later  part  of  the  preceding  day's  march,  our  way 
lay  in  a  belt  of  smooth,  hard  ice  between  the  old,  very 
rough  ice  of  last  year  and  the  open  water.  The  snow 
upon  the  ice  was  flat-packed,  and  rippled  slightly  by  the 
wind,  just  the  kind  most  favorable  to  the  dogs.  The 
day  was  cold,  clear,  and  sunshiny,  and  we  made  ex- 
cellent time  to  Cape  Sabine,  where  we  camped  at  Igloo- 
suah,  Peary's  old  headquarters  on  Payer  Harbor.  A 
year  before  I  had  come  into  Igloosuah  on  my  way  home 
to  Etah,  discouraged  because  I  could  not  accompany 
MacMillan  and  Fitz  to  Crocker  Land,  both  my  feet 
frozen,  and  my  body  worn  by  pain  and  exhaustion. 
Now  I  was  in  the  best  of  health  and  condition,  con- 
fident of  accomplishing  my  purpose  and  achieving  my 
aim. 

We  stayed  at  Igloosuah  until  the  forenoon  of  the  30th, 
feeding  our  dogs  to  constant  satiety  upon  the  walrus  and 
narwhal  meat  that  Fitz  and  the  Eskimos  had  cached 
there  the  preceding  summer.  We  were  very  comfortable 
in  the  old  shack  that  is  all  that  is  left  of  Peary's  station, 
for  we  could  not  heat  it  so  much  that  the  frost  and 
snow  melted  and  wet  and  dampened  our  clothes,  as 
had  been  the  case  when  I  had  been  there  several  times 
before.  The  Eskimos  were  surprised  that  we  found  no 
trace  of  bear,  for  this  was  one  of  the  favorite  haunts  of 
old  white  bruin,  and  we  were  the  first  party  to  come  to  the 
place  that  season. 

The  drive  around  Pim  Island  through  Rice  Strait  was 
anything  but  pleasant.  Though  the  sun  shone  clear, 
the  wind  blew  cold  and  strong,  driving  the  steel-sharp, 
steel-cold  snow  before  it  like  so  many  tiny  daggers  that 
cut  the  face  mercilessly  and  slowed  down  our  dogs. 


S40      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

We  made  a  long  march,  however,  and  got  well  into 
Buchanan  Bay  before  we  made  Camp  Greely  on  the  ice 
off  the  northernmost  point  of  Johan  Peninsula.  Through- 
out my  trip  I  named  each  camp,  so  that  I  might  the 
more  easily  remember  it.  Thus  I  had  already  made 
Camp  Sonntag  and  Camp  Hayes. 

Wnbien  we  broke  camp  the  next  morning,  Esayoo  urged 
that  instead  of  going  up  Beitstad  Fjord,  as  we  intended, 
we  should  cross  Buchanan  Bay  and  go  up  Flagler  Fjord. 
In  the  latter  he  said  we  would  find  hard-packed  snow 
and  good  going,  as  he  knew  from  i)ersonal  experience; 
in  the  former  he  felt  sure  we  would  find  such  deep  snow 
as  we  had  encountered  the  previous  year  over  much  of 
our  route.  I  hesitated  to  act  up>on  his  suggestion,  for 
I  was  loath  to  change  my  plans,  but  after  conferring 
with  Oobloyah,  in  whom  I  placed  the  utmost  confi- 
dence, and  who  said  we  could  not  make  any  serious 
mistake  to  follow  Esayoo's  advice  in  anything,  I  de- 
cided to  do  as  he  urged.  At  first  we  met  deep  snow, 
but  in  a  short  time  the  going  began  improving,  and  kept 
getting  better,  until  along  Bache  Peninsula  we  found  a 
real  Arctic  boulevard,  and  before  we  made  camp  got 
quite  to  Eskimopolis  at  the  point  of  Knud  Peninsula. 
This  was  the  first  of  the  many  valuable  suggestions  that 
Esayoo  made  on  the  trip,  and  that  fully  justified  his 
reputation  for  good  judgment  and  knowledge  of  the 
ways  of  the  North. 

I  named  our  stopping-place  Camp  Small,  for*"  we 
reached  it  in  the  first  hour  of  Jot's  birthday — he  was 
bom  on  April  1st,  and  he  always  said  he  was  Cape  Cod's 
April  fool.  At  this  place  E-took-a-shoo  built  a  big 
snow  house,  the  largest  I  ever  saw  in  Greenland,  with 
ample  room  for  our  whole  party.     Numerous  bear  tracks 


APPENDIX  11  S41 

about  this  place  induced  me  to  yield  to  the  Eskimos' 
desire  to  stay  a  day  to  hunt,  and  we  lay  over.  All  the 
Eskimos  went  bear-hunting,  except  Esayoo,  who  had  a 
stomach-ache;  they  came  in  after  a  few  hours  with  the 
meat  and  skins  of  two  bears,  and  we  all  feasted  on 
bear  meat  for  supper. 

One  of  my  dogs,  a  big  tawny  fellow,  was  seized  with 
rabies  at  this  camp;  the  dogs  at  Etah  had  been  subject 
to  the  sickness  through  the  winter,  and  now  both  the 
Eskimos  and  I  were  worried  lest  this  dog  of  mine  was 
only  the  first  of  our  teams  to  fall  victim  to  it.  In  every 
other  way  the  prospect  was  most  satisfactory;  our  dogs 
were  generally  in  good  condition,  well  fed,  and  not  at 
all  footsore;  the  ice  ahead  of  us  seemed  smooth  and 
but  little  covered  with  snow;  the  weather,  though  cold, 
was  calm  and  clear;  we  ourselves  were  in  the  pink  of 
condition  and  the  best  of  spirits.  The  esjyrit  de  corps  of 
my  party  was  exceptionally  good. 

When  we  started  out  from  Camp  Small  I  had  to  leave 
behind  us  my  sick  dog,  tied  to  a  snow  block,  with 
enough  meat  for  several  days  within  reach,  but  I  had 
little  hope  of  his  recovery ;  he  could  not  stand  on  his  feet, 
and  every  half -hour  or  so  he  was  seized  with  a  paroxysm 
that  seemed  to  leave  him  almost  dead.  We  left  this 
camp  rather  reluctantly,  for  it  was  a  pleasant  place; 
but  when  we  once  got  away  we  felt  no  regret.  The 
going  was  splendid,  the  weather  fine.  As  we  dashed 
along,  Esayoo  pointed  out  to  me  the  big  cairn  on  the 
narrow  isthmus  of  Bache  Peninsula  that  Peary  and  he 
had  built  many  years  before.  Though  it  was  many  miles 
away,  I  could  see  it  with  my  naked  eye.  It  must  be  a 
big  one. 

We  camped  again  at  Camp  Sverdrup  on  the  ice-foot 


342      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

in  the  lee  of  the  shore  at  the  head  of  Flagler  Fjord.  When 
we  broke  camp  the  next  morning,  Easter  Sunday,  I  was 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  magnificent  view  that 
lay  before  us  as  we  started  up  the  valley.  The  scenery 
was  suj>erb.  Like  great  walls  on  either  side,  the  pre- 
cipitous mountains  rose  to  guard  the  pass  that  we 
intended  to  go  through.  Never  in  all  my  Arctic  experi- 
ence have  I  been  so  thrilled,  so  excited,  so  exhilarated 
as  I  was  during  our  drive  up  the  valley  to  the  pass,  that 
glorious  Easter  Sunday.  The  sun  shone  clear,  and  the 
weather  was  so  warm  that  we  drove  all  day  without 
our  caribou-skin  kooletahs;  the  ease  and  pleasure  of 
this  route,  compared  with  the  Beitstad  Fjord  way  of  the 
year  before,  delighted  me;  the  going  was  good,  the 
scenery  unsurpassed;  on  every  side  we  saw  game  or 
traces  of  game;  and  late  in  the  afternoon,  just  after 
we  had  passed  through  the  narrow  gateway  into  a  broad 
valley  in  the  heart  of  the  hills,  we  saw  and  killed  our 
first  musk-ox,  a  fitting  close  to  an  explorer's  lucky  day. 
I  could  have  hugged  Esayoo  for  guiding  me  by  this 
pass.  I  named  the  gateway  Sverdrup  Pass,  in  honor 
of  the  stalwart  old  Norwegian  explorer  who  had  first 
seen  it. 

A  storm  kept  us  camped  in  this  valley  at  Camp  Green 
until  the  evening  of  April  7th.  Then  Oobloyah  and 
Okpuddyshao  helped  us  up  the  glacier  as  a  last  evidence 
of  friendly  interest  and  kind  regard,  and  turned  back 
toward  Etah.  We  crossed  the  ice-cap  in  a  few  hours. 
I  shall  never  forget  my  surprise  when  suddenly  the 
black,  serrated  cordillera  north  of  Bay  Fjord  burst  upon 
the  view  as  we  reached  the  crest  of  the  divide;  I  had  not 
expected  to  see  it  for  many  hours.  The  descent  to  Bay 
Fjord  was  rapid  and  easy;   when  we  struck  the  sea  ice 


APPENDIX  II  343 

again  we  made  coffee  in  celebration  of  our  quick  and  easy 
passage,  and  Esayoo  was  "guest  of  honor." 

Scarcely  had  we  reached  the  low  land  of  the  west 
coast  when  Nukapingwa  discerned  a  large  herd  of  musk- 
oxen  not  far  from  the  site  of  Camp  Ekblaw,  as  Mac 
had  named  the  place  the  previous  year  from  which  I 
had  been  forced  to  return  with  frozen  feet.  A  quick 
unloading  of  sledges,  a  fast  chase  across  the  little  bay, 
and  a  wild  dash  up  the  mountain-side  brought  us  to 
the  shaggy  beasts  that  we  so  much  needed  for  food  for 
ourselves  and  our  dogs.  Nukapingwa  brought  them 
to  bay  far  up  on  the  mountain-side,  where  he  shot  them 
one  by  one.  Their  great  carcasses  came  rolling  down, 
one  after  another,  to  our  very  feet,  much  to  the  excite- 
ment and  joy  of  our  dogs.  At  this  place  we  established 
Camp  Tanquary,  where  we  stayed  until  we  had  consumed 
all  the  meat  of  the  eleven  musk-oxen  killed. 

The  trip  down  Bay  Fjord  was  slow  and  leisurely. 
We  camped  once  at  Camp  MacMillan  on  the  south 
side  of  the  fjord,  near  a  cliff  in  which  I  investigated 
a  thick  seam  of  soft  lignitic  coal,  and  from  the  top  of 
which  I  could  make  a  sketch  of  most  of  Bay  Fjord  and 
its  tributaries.  Across  the  fjord  we  could  see  a  great 
herd  of  musk-oxen  feeding  on  a  wide  meadow  at  the 
foot  of  the  mountains;  and  I  found  no  difficulty  in 
getting  the  Eskimos  started  early  the  next  morning — 
the  musk-oxen  were  the  best  possible  incentive  to  early 
rising. 

On  the  way  across  the  fjord  we  found  the  fresh  track 
of  a  big  bear.  Nukapingwa  preferred  to  go  after  the 
bear  rather  than  join  the  rest  of  us  in  the  musk-oxen 
kill,  so  he  set  off  himself  up  the  fjord  after  the  bear. 
The  others  of  us  made  a  kill  of  fourteen  fat,  sleek  musk- 


844       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

oxen  from  one  to  three  years  old.  The  herd  of  which 
they  were  a  part  was  comjxjsed  of  the  finest  specimens 
of  musk-oxen  that  I  have  seen.  They  were  thick 
padded  with  fat  as  golden  and  sweet  as  butter;  their 
coats  glistened  bright  and  well  kept  in  the  bright 
sunshine;  and  their  horns  were  smooth  and  polished. 
Esayoo  counted  sixty-seven  in  the  herd.  Their  splen- 
did condition  was  no  doubt  due  to  the  excellent  pasturage 
they  found  on  the  grassy  meadows  among  the  moun- 
tains and  along  the  fjord. 

The  west  coast  of  Ellesmere  Land  in  the  vicinity  of 
Bay  Fjord  is  not  generally  so  precipitous  and  bleak  as 
the  east  coast.  It  is  more  maturely  dissected,  the  val- 
leys are  wider,  the  slopes  are  less  steep,  and  the  moun- 
tains do  not  everywhere  rise  so  abruptly.  Large  tracts 
support  a  relatively  luxuriant  growth  of  willow,  sedge, 
and  grass,  the  chief  foods  of  the  musk-oxen. 

Several  of  our  dogs  slipped  their  traces  at  this  kill, 
among  them  one  of  my  dogs,  a  little  wolf -like  gray  creat- 
ure, that  Allen  had  named  Pookey.  Pookey  was  a 
strong,  wilHng  dog  of  which  I  had  grown  very  fond  in 
the  short  time  I  had  driven  her.  Pookey  had  become 
wild  with  excitement  when  we  made  the  kill,  especially 
after  we  had  driven  the  part  of  the  herd  that  we  spared 
away  toward  the  mountains.  The  wolf  in  her  grew 
dominant,  and  for  the  time  being  she  became  wild.  I 
could  not  catch  her,  nor  would  she  give  up  worrying 
the  musk-oxen,  until  late  that  evening.  Then,  ashamed 
of  her  waywardness,  she  skulked  back  to  camp  over 
the  sea  ice,  just  as  Nukapingwa  came  in  flushed  with 
success  from  his  bear-hunt.  He  could  not  see  our  camp 
for  a  little  ridge  between  us  and  the  sea,  but  he  did  see 
Pookey  sneaking  along.     Sad  to  say,  I  had  told  my 


APPENDIX  II  345 

companions  that  very  morning,  when  we  had  observed 
several  pairs  of  wolves  following  us,  to  shoot  every  wolf 
that  they  could,  for  the  skins  were  rare  and  valuable  as 
museum  specimens;  Nukapingwa  thought  Pookey  a 
wolf  and  put  a  bullet  right  through  her.  She  crawled 
into  camp,  and  Nukapingwa  told  me  rather  shame- 
facedly what  he  had  done,  offering  me  any  dog  in  his 
team  to  replace  her.  Though  I  did  all  I  could  for  poor 
Pookey,  she  could  not  hope  to  keep  up  with  the  team- 
mates she  had  led  before;  to  end  her  sufferings  I  put  a 
bullet  from  my  Remington  .32  through  her  head,  and 
she  was  still. 

Arklio  and  Nukapingwa  turned  back  from  this  camp. 
Camp  Hunt.  Their  sledges  were  well  laden  with  skins 
and  meat.  By  them  I  sent,  too,  my  last  message  to 
the  men  at  Etah  before  severing  our  last  connections 
with  headquarters,  giving  them  an  account  of  my  ex- 
periences thus  far.  They  bade  us  good-by  early  on  the 
morning  of  the  14th;  they  started  their  dogs  home- 
ward as  we  turned  ours  out  toward  Eureka  Sound  and 
the  unknown. 

Down  the  rest  of  Bay  Fjord  and  up  Eureka  Sound 
the  going  was  good.  In  three  camps — Camps  Isachsen, 
Schei,  and  Allen — or  four  marches,  we  attained  the 
northernmost  end  of  Fosheim  Peninsula  at  the  mouth 
of  Greely  Fjord.  All  along  the  way  we  had  seen  musk- 
oxen  on  the  hills  on  both  sides  of  the  sound,  and  we 
had  killed  all  we  had  needed  for  food.  Even  on  the  ic3 
we  found  their  tracks  for  miles.  At  midnight  of  the 
18th  we  saw  the  midnight  sun  for  the  first  time,  so 
we  called  our  stopping-place  Midnight  Sun  Camp.  We 
knew  we  were  near  musk-oxen  by  the  way  our  dogs  be- 
haved, but  we  did  not  see  any. 


S46       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

The  next  morning  we  had  not  driven  a  mile  before 
E-took-a-shoo,  who  was  in  the  lead,  swung  up  over 
the  bank  along  the  ice-foot  on  which  we  were  traveling, 
and  our  dogs  followed.  There  before  us,  not  fifty  yards 
away,  was  a  big  herd  of  musk-oxen,  all  bunched  up  to 
give  fight.  Because  I  had  promised  my  companions 
that  as  soon  as  we  found  a  goodly  flock  of  the  big  ani- 
mals in  a  place  comfortable  for  an  extended  camp  we 
should  kill  enough  to  keep  us  supplied  with  food  for  a 
week  or  ten  days,  while  we  rested  and  fattened  our  dogs 
preparatory  to  entering  upon  the  exploration  of  the  new 
lands  about  which  we  knew  nothing,  I  told  them  that 
we  should  kill  the  entire  herd. 

To  do  so  seemed  wanton  slaughter,  for  when  the  kill 
was  over  we  had  brought  down  twenty -one  musk-oxen — 
a  few  only  yearlings;  most,  two-  or  three-year-olds. 
But  we  had  three  teams  of  hungry  dogs,  and  a  team  of 
eight  or  ten  dogs  easily  devours  a  musk-oxen  at  a  meal, 
even  though  it  be  almost  as  big  as  a  two-year-old  steer. 
At  the  end  of  seven  days  the  meat  was  gone,  except  for 
a  little  that  we  carried  on  our  sledges. 

We  stayed  until  April  26th  at  this  camp.  Camp 
E-took-a-shoo,  well  fed  and  comfortable.  E-took-a- 
shoo  built  at  this  camp  a  substantial,  roomy  snow  house, 
the  last  we  needed  on  that  trip,  and  we  lined  it  through- 
out with  the  many  skins  of  the  musk-ox  we  killed. 
Every  day  we  went  tramping  about  the  great  rolling 
plain  that  comprises  the  northern  end  of  the  peninsula. 
I  collected  dry  plants  and  fossils  assiduously.  Of  the 
latter  I  found  many,  both  Paleozoic  and  Mesozoic. 
The  peninsula  teems  with  life.  Hundreds  of  hares, 
scores  of  ptarmigan,  and  herds  of  musk-oxen  feed  on  the 
slopes  of  the  hills  and  the  valley  plains.     The  country 


APPENDIX  II  347 

Is  a  veritable  musk-ox  pasture.  Fj-om  the  top  of  Mt. 
Hovey,  a  proud  eminence  that  rises  up  over  the  p>oint 
of  the  peninsula,  I  counted  over  200  musk-oxen  in  sight. 
Wolves,  foxes,  ermine,  and  lemming  are  common  on  the 
land.  The  snow  along  the  coast  is  beaten  down  in  a 
wide  path  by  passing  bears. 

During  our  stay  there  the  sun  shone  bright  and  clear 
and  warm,  so  that  we  dried  a  musk-ox  skin  for  each  of 
us;  hardly  a  breath  of  wind  came  to  annoy  us.  In 
summer  it  must  be  a  beautiful  place. 

April  26th  we  set  out  again.  Our  dogs  were  so  well 
fed  that  they  were  lazy,  and  we  progressed  slowly  for 
several  hours.  As  their  laziness  wore  off  we  gained 
speed.  By  the  time  we  made  Camp  Fosheim — beside 
an  iceberg — the  dogs  were  going  well.  All  along  the 
way  we  saw  game  of  all  kinds. 

Beside  the  iceberg  at  Camp  Fosheim  we  left  all  the 
equipment  we  should  not  need,  for  a  short  dash  up 
Canon  Fjord.  On  the  shore  near  us  four  musk-oxen 
were  feeding.  We  agreed  to  leave  them  to  kiU  when  we 
got  back,  that  we  might  have  a  good  feed  for  our  dogs 
before  crossing  Greely  Fjord.  The  going  up  Canon 
Fjord  was  very  good,  and  we  sj>ed  along  with  a  dash, 
making  in  eight  hours  the  distance  that  it  had  taken 
Fosheim  and  Raanes  a  week.  We  made  a  kill  of  musk- 
oxen  at  a  valley  near  the  head  of  the  fjord  and  stayed 
there  over  the  28th.  Musk-oxen  were  numerous  all 
about  us.  A  cow  in  a  small  herd  within  a  mile  of  our 
camp  gave  birth  to  a  calf,  the  first  we  had  seen. 
The  stay  there  was  most  pleasant  indeed,  marked  by 
our  first  sight  of  the  cheery  little  snow-bunting,  the 
only  songster  of  the  Northland,  who  afterward  was  with 

us  nearly  every  day. 
23 


848       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

E-took-a-shoo  and  I  built  a  big  cairn  on  the  sandstone 
ledge  of  a  little  cape  that  ran  out  into  the  head  of  the 
fjord.  We  found  on  this  cape  the  ruins  of  two  Eskimo 
stone  houses,  and  from  the  great  slabs  of  those  struct- 
ures we  built,  in  part,  the  big  cairn.  In  a  bottle  in 
the  foot  of  this  cairn  we  left  a  record  of  our  achieve- 
ments up  to  that  time.  On  the  back  of  the  record  I 
indited  a  stanza  of  our  most  popular  Illinois  song.  I 
wished  to  put  up  a  conspicuous,  permanent  cairn  at 
this  point,  that  any  one  coming  into  the  fjord  in  the 
future  could  readily  find  it  and  verify  my  having  been 
there. 

In  one  day's  march  we  again  got  back  to  Camp  Fos- 
heim,  and  went  in  search  of  the  four  musk-oxen  that  we 
had  left  for  our  return.  We  could  see  only  one  dark 
mass  where  we  had  left  the  four,  but  we  supposed  the 
other  three  were  merely  out  of  sight  behind  some  little 
ridge  or  hummock.  We  were  much  surprised  to  find, 
when  we  got  to  it,  that  our  one  dark  spot  was  a  dead 
musk-ox,  and  that  the  others  were  gone.  During  our 
absence  up  the  fjord,  a  pair  of  wolves  had  attacked  one 
of  the  herd,  a  full-grown  bull,  had  succeeded  in  bringing 
him  down,  and  had  eaten  part  of  his  carcass.  The 
other  musk-oxen  had  fled.  The  story  of  the  struggle 
was  written  legibly  in  the  snow;  there  could  be  no  doubt 
of  its  character.  One  of  the  wolves,  apparently  the 
female  or  smaller,  had  attracted  the  attention  of  the 
musk-ox  by  attacking  his  head,  while  the  male?-  the 
larger,  had  secured  a  hold  of  his  hind  quarters  and 
dragged  him  down.  The  wolves  had  sneaked  away  upon 
our  approach,  for  the  places  where  they  had  been  lying 
were  still  warm.  Though  we  had  been  cheated  out  of 
the  fresh  meat  we  had  expected,  we  had  definitely  estab- 


APPENDIX  II  349 

lished  the  fact  that  a  pair  of  wolves  is  a  match  for  a  full- 
grown  musk-ox. 

From  Camp  Fosheim  we  set  out  northwest  toward  the 
unexplored  coast  of  Grant  Land.  To  our  right  Greely 
Fjord  extended,  misty  and  mysterious,  the  unknown 
p>ortion  of  our  trail.  Before  us  opened  a  fjord,  how  long 
or  how  large  we  could  not  tell.  We  headed  for  the 
mouth  of  this  fjord.  The  snow  lay  soft  and  deep;  after 
a  long,  slow  drag  in  which  I  broke  trail  all  day  with 
snow-shoes,  leading  my  dogs,  we  came  near  enough 
to  search  the  hills  with  our  glasses.  The  scenery  was 
grand,  but  the  prospect  was  dubious.  Grant  Land  is  a 
land  of  high  relief;  great  dark  mountains,  some  round- 
topped  and  snow-covered,  some  sharp-peaked  and  black, 
with  gleaming  glaciers  coming  down  most  of  the  valleys, 
constitute  the  dominant  tone  of  the  landscape;  but  of 
game  we  could  not  see  a  trace.  We  made  camp  just  at 
the  mouth  of  the  fjord,  in  the  shadow  of  a  frowning,  for- 
bidding cliff. 

We  entered  the  fjord  the  next  morning,  I  leading  the 
way  on  my  snow-shoes  to  break  the  trail  as  on  the  day 
before.  Until  noon  we  could  see  no  trace  of  game. 
Shortly  after  twelve  we  stopped  to  rest,  and  finally 
with  my  big  Leitz  glasses  we  descried  a  musk-ox  walking 
along  the  crest  of  a  ridge  far  within  the  fjord.  Then 
we  saw  another,  and  still  another;  then  many;  finally 
we  could  count  over  sixty,  and  knew  there  must  be  more 
about.  We  were  overjoyed,  for  now  we  were  sure  that 
the  unknown  land  had  game  and  food  for  us. 

As  we  started  out  again,  I  could  not  help  a  brief 
muttered  prayer  of  thanks — "Lord,  Thou  hast  done  well 
with  us  " — and  took  my  place  at  the  head  with  renewed 
strength.     The  way  to  the  musk-oxen  was  long  and  hard, 


350       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

though,  and  it  was  six  o'clock  when  finally  we  stopped 
our  sledges  to  start  up  the  hill  after  the  game;  I  was 
so  tired,  and  my  legs  ached  so,  that  I  promised  myself 
most  fervently  that  if  I  ever  got  back  to  the  land  of 
carriages,  automobiles,  and  street-cars,  I  should  never 
again  walk  one  step  more  than  absolutely  necessary. 

I  did  not  believe  that  I  should  ever  be  able  to  get  to 
the  top  of  the  mountain  where  the  musk-oxen  were,  for 
they  were  at  least  two  miles  from  our  sledges,  and  the 
mountain  was  about  2,000  feet  high.  To  make  matters 
worse,  the  snow  lay  deep  everywhere.  We  walked  up 
Indian  file,  E-took-a-shoo  in  the  lead,  Esayoo  next,  and 
I  last.  We  made  a  broad,  deep  trail.  Even  with  the 
trail  broken,  I  found  it  hard  to  keep  up  with  my  men. 
Just  before  coming  up  to  the  musk-oxen,  I  thought  half 
seriously,  half  humorously,  "Lord,  Thou  hast  done 
well,  but  for  the  sake  of  my  weary  legs,  Thou  eouldst 
have  done  better."  I  had  hardly  given  form  to  the 
thought  when  Esayoo  suggested  that  we  go  beyond  the 
herd  before  shooting,  in  the  hop>e  that  the  musk-oxen 
might  try  to  escai>e  in  the  direction  we  had  come  and  thus 
get  nearer  our  dogs.  If  we  made  our  kill  we  should  have  to 
go  back  after  our  dogs,  lead  them  up  the  hill,  and,  after 
feeding  them,  take  them  back  again,  an  almost  imp>ossible 
walk  for  my  weary  legs. 

We  acted  upon  Esayoo's  suggestion  and  stalked  around 
the  herd  before  we  began  shooting.  At  the  first  volley 
the  musk-oxen  broke  their  square  and  fled.  To  jour 
great  joy,  the  whole  herd  started  down  our  well-beaten 
path.  We  could  see  only  part  of  the  way,  because  a 
rise  in  the  sloj)e  cut  off  our  view,  but  as  we  followed  after 
them  as  fast  as  we  could  our  elation  increased  as  we  went, 
for  they  had  gone  right  back  on  our  track.    Finally 


APPENDIX  II  351 

we  came  upon  them  at  bay  on  a  little  cliff  just  above 
our  dogs  and  sledges.  Our  dogs  were  frantic  to  get  at 
them.  It  was  an  easy  matter  to  shoot  all  we  needed. 
After  we  had  killed  them,  all  we  had  to  do  was  to  roll 
them  over  the  cliff  down  to  our  sledges,  instead  of 
tramping  quite  up  to  the  top  of  the  mountain  again, 
as  we  should  have  had  to  do  except  for  Esayoo's  sensible 
suggestion.  As  I  crept  into  my  cozy  sleeping-bag  that 
night  I  gratefully  gave  shape  to  my  last  thought, 
"Lord,  Thou  hast  done  splendidly."  In  the  bright  sun- 
shine we  slept  on  our  sledges  without  tent  or  other 
shelter. 

The  next  two  days  we  spent  exploring  the  new  fjord, 
which  I  named  Borup  Fjord  in  honor  of  my  lamented 
friend,  George  Borup,  to  whom  our  expedition  was  a 
memorial.  Borup  Fjord  is. a  magnificent  bay  sixteen 
miles  deep,  with  two  tributary  arms  on  the  east  side. 
It  is  flanked  on  either  side  by  high  mountains,  some 
Alpine  in  character,  with  blue  valley  glaciers  coming 
down  between  the  dark,  sharp  peaks.  On  the  plateaus 
and  domes  inland  the  snow  lay  deep  everywhere. 
Numerous  large  herds  of  musk-oxen  roamed  over  the 
slop>es,  indicating  an  abundant  pasturage.  At  our  camp 
Esayoo  and  I  scraped  away  the  snow  with  our  snow- 
shoes  in  several  places;  in  all  we  found  a  thick,  close 
carpet  of  vegetation.  I  should  like  to  see  these  shores 
in  summer  when  the  snow  is  melted. 

In  the  exploration  of  Borup  Fjord  I  had  to  break  the 
trail  on  snow-shoes  every  foot  we  went;  the  snow  was 
over  three  feet  deep  on  the  level,  and  sledging,  even 
with  empty  sledges,  was  heavy.  My  legs  seemed  ready 
to  drop  off. 

Yet  the  days  seemed  short,  so  many  interesting  things 


352       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

engaged  our  attention.  The  first  seals  we  had  seen 
upon  the  ice  lay  basking  in  the  golden  sunshine — eight 
of  them;  Esayoo  and  E-took-a-shoo  tried  for  them,  but 
with  no  success.  Though  fresh  bear  tracks  were  numer- 
ous, we  saw  none  of  these  "brethren  of  the  icebergs." 
A  snowy  owl  swooped  for  a  lemming  scurrying  across  the 
snow,  but  failed  to  get  him.  Spring  was  coming  into  the 
Northland,  and  life  was  everywhere  stirring  actively 
about  again. 

The  large  number  of  musk-oxen  in  this  new  land  and 
the  evidence  of  abundant  game  along  Greely  Fjord  en- 
couraged us  to  expect  little  diflficulty  as  far  as  food  was 
concerned;  but  when  we  started  up  Greely  Fjord  we 
could  not  help  feeling  somewhat  doubtful  as  to  the  going. 
The  snow  was  very  deep,  and  so  soft  that  it  balled  up 
badly  between  the  dogs'  toes.  For  two  days  we  snow- 
shoed  beside  our  sledges.  Then  the  going  got  better, 
for  as  we  neared  the  head  of  the  fjord  the  surface  was 
hard  enough  to  bear  the  weight  of  the  dogs  and  sledges, 
because  the  wind  had  packed  the  snow  more.  We  killed 
no  game,  for  the  sides  of  the  fjord  were  almost  pre- 
cipitous walls  of  gray  and  brown  sandstone  and  gray 
and  blue  limestone,  so  that  we  could  not  readily  see 
over  onto  the  hills. 

A  small  narrow  fjord  opens  into  Greely  Fjord  on  the 
south  side.  At  the  head  of  this  little  fjord  a  large 
glacier  comes  down  from  the  ice-cap,  but  does  not  quite 
reach  the  sea.  On  the  north  side  of  the  fjord  we  dis- 
covered the  mouth  of  a  large  fjord,  so  cut  off  by  pro- 
jecting capes  that  we  could  not  see  more  than  a  few  miles 
into  it.  Near  the  mouth  we  killed  two  musk-oxen  for 
dog  food,  and  made  camp.  With  rare  good  luck,  I 
found  that  we  had  made  our  kill  on  a  richly  fossiliferous 


APPENDIX  II  353 

limestone  cliff,  from  which  I  collected  a  rather  satis- 
factory group  of  corals  and  brachiopods.  Game  and 
vegetation  were  abundant  here  also. 

From  this  camp  we  set  out  to  explore  the  fjord. 
From  my  first  sight  of  it  I  determined  to  name  it  Tan- 
quary  Fjord,  and  a  range  of  high  mountains  about  the 
head  of  the  fjord,  Osborn  Mountains;  the  latter  of  these 
I  named  in  honor  of  my  friend  and  patron,  President 
Henry  Fairfield  Osborn  of  the  American  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  and  the  former  in  honor  of  my  fellow 
in  science  on  the  expedition,  the  true  friend  of  many 
years.  Dr.  M.  C.  Tanquary.  The  bold  headland  at  the 
mouth  of  the  fjord  I  named  Cape  James,  in  honor  of 
"Prexy"  Edmund  James  James  of  the  University  of 
Illinois,  who  has  long  been  my  inspiring  friend;  and  the 
mountain  opposite,  Mt.  Bayley,  to  honor  my  friend  and 
mentor.  Dr.  W.  S.  Bayley,  also  of  the  university.  Be- 
cause of  my  deep  admiration  for  Louise  Homer,  her  of 
the  sweet  voice,  I  named  the  land  between  Borup  Fjord 
and  Tanquary  Fjord  Louise  Homer  Land.  Naming  the 
new  capes  and  bays  and  mountains  and  glaciers  and 
islands  was  some  of  the  best  fun  I  had  on  my  lonely  trip. 

The  exploration  of  Tanquary  Fjord  was  the  most  im- 
j)ortant  work  of  my  journey.  We  spent  four  days  at 
this  task,  but  it  was  well  worth  the  time.  Tanquary 
Fjord  is  deep,  extending  almost  thirty  miles  northwest- 
ward into  the  very  heart  of  Grant  Land,  in  the  general 
direction  of  Lake  Hazen.  It  is  bordered  on  both  sides 
by  high  mountains,  of  which  those  on  the  south  side 
are  sharp  and  steep,  those  of  the  north  shore  more  slop- 
ing and  rounded.  Numerous  glaciers  reach  the  waters 
of  the  fjord,  but  they  do  not  discharge  many  icebergs. 
The  scenery  about  the  head  of  the  fjord  is  wild  and 


854       FOUR  YEARS  EST  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

picturesque,  as  grand  as  any  I  saw  in  the  North.  A 
large  valley  extending  toward  Lake  Hazen  opens  out 
upon  the  fjord  at  its  head.  On  the  shore  about  the 
mouth  of  this  valley  we  found  the  ruins  of  ancient 
Eskimo  habitations;  I  feel  sure  that  the  old  Eskimo 
route  across  Grant  Land  was  up  this  fjord,  and  then  up 
the  valley  to  the  lake.  We  climbed  a  high  mountain 
the  better  to  survey  the  pass,  and  were  sorely  tempted 
to  make  an  attempt  to  get  to  Lake  Hazen  by  this  ap- 
parently easy  route.  We  finally  gave  up  the  idea  of 
doing  so,  because  I  wished  to  go  over  the  same  route 
that  Lieut.  J.  B.  Lockwood  and  Serg.  D.  L.  Brainard, 
of  Greely's  party,  had  traversed  many  years  before. 

Musk-oxen  were  plentiful  along  the  shores  of  the 
fjords.  We  saw  many  tracks  of  bear,  caribou,  and  wolf, 
and  of  hares  and  ptarmigan  the  number  was  legion. 
Fox  and  ermine  tracks  were  not  very  common,  but 
lemming  tracks  netted  the  snow.  We  killed  six  musk- 
oxen,  two  at  one  of  our  camps  and  four  at  another. 
On  the  plateau  where  we  killed  the  two  we  found  the 
ruins  of  Eskimo  caches  and  fox-traps,  further  indicating 
that  the  Eskimos  had  one  time  lived  on  the  shore  of 
this  fjord. 

May  16th  we  reached  the  head  of  Greely  Fjord,  the 
very  day  that  Lieutenant  Lockwood  and  Sergeant  Brain- 
ard started  homeward  in  1883,  thirty-two  years  before. 
The  head  of  the  fjord  had  not  changed  one  jot,  one  tittle, 
so  far  as  we  could  tell  by  comparing  Lockwood's  excel- 
lent sketches  which  I  carried  with  me,  with  the  view 
that  stretched  before  us;  every  dark  cliff,  every  patch 
of  snow,  every  gully  in  the  slopes,  appeared  unchanged. 
We  followed  their  route  and  camped  on  the  same  lake 
as  they  did  many  years  before. 


APPENDIX   II  S55 

And  this  little  lake  is,  I  feel  sure,  one  of  the  dreariest, 
loneliest,  coldest  spK)ts  on  this  old  globe  of  ours.  It  is 
about  fifteen  miles  long  and  two  miles  wide,  bounded 
on  the  south  side  and  on  the  north  by  almost  vertical 
cliffs  over  1,500  feet  high,  and  terminated  at  either  end 
by  bleak,  blue  glaciers.  In  my  four  years'  experience 
of  silent  vastnesses,  and  lonely  distances,  in  the  North, 
I  never  felt  so  submerged  in  the  forsakenness  of  the 
Arctic  as  I  did  in  this  prison-like  lake-bed.  I  cannot 
imagine  anything  lonelier  than  this  far  northern  crypt 
at  Arctic  midnight  when  a  northern  blizzard  rages.  It 
would  be  the  best  hiding-place  on  earth,  I  think;  and 
if  Santa  Claus  needs  a  safe  place  convenient  to  his  North 
Pole  home  to  store  his  Christmas  gifts  without  fear  of 
thieves,  he  cannot  find  a  better  one  than  this  lake. 
Tliey  would  be  safe  as  in  a  vault. 

At  the  head  of  the  lake,  a  narrow  canon-like  pass 
between  the  face  of  the  glacier  and  the  high  cliffs  af- 
forded us  escape  from  the  prison;  but  we  were  forced 
to  prepare  a  way  with  our  ice-picks,  over  the  debris 
of  blocks  broken  from  the  glacier.  We  worked  at  this 
several  hours  before  we  were  able  to  get  by.  Then  we 
entered  a  canon,  of  which  the  cliffs  towered  sheer  above 
us  over  1,000  feet.  We  sledged  along  on  the  frozen 
stream  at  the  bottom  of  this  canon  for  several  hours; 
in  the  dark  gloom  the  air  was  very  cold,  and  we  were 
anxious  to  get  out  onto  the  slopes  above.  When  at 
last  we  came  to  a  fork  where  a  tributary  gorge  entered, 
we  stopped  to  consider  whether  to  attempt  the  tributary 
or  the  main  canon.  E-took-a-shoo  reconnoitered  the 
tributary  gorge,  while  Esayoo  and  I  made  tea  to  warm 
us  a  little.  E-took-a-shoo  reported  that  he  felt  sure  we 
could  easily  get  out  by  way  of  the  little  gorge. 


^356       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

After  tea  we  started  up  the  cold,  rocky,  narrow  gorge. 
Four  times  we  had  to  unload  our  sledges  and  carry 
everything  over  the  rock  dams  that  had  slidden  across 
the  gorge.  Finally  we  came  to  one  so  steep  and  high 
that  Esayoo  said  it  would  be  wisest  for  us  to  investigate 
farther  on  foot,  to  determine  with  certainty  whether  or 
not  we  could  get  out,  before  we  carried  all  the  equip- 
ment and  sledges  up  over  the  barrier.  While  E-took-a- 
shoo  watched  the  dogs,  Esayoo  and  I  scouted  ahead. 
After  a  five-mile  walk,  we  came  at  last  to  the  end  of  the 
gorge  and  found  that  it  ended  in  a  steep,  rocky  wall  up 
which  we  could  not  take  our  sledges.  Much  discouraged, 
we  retraced  our  steps  to  the  sledges,  and  after  a  con- 
sultation headed  back  down  the  gorge.  Several  hours' 
hard  traveling  brought  us  to  the  main  canon  again,  and 
we  pitched  camp. 

The  prospect  began  to  concern  us.  For  three  days 
our  dogs  had  had  no  food;  the  going  had  been  hard,  the 
weather  cold.  We  could  find  no  way  out  with  our  dogs 
and  sledges.  The  following  day  I  suffered  a  slight  at- 
tack of  snow-blindness,  so  I  could  not  travel,  and  our 
concern  increased,  but  Esayoo  and  E-took-a-shoo  found 
a  place  where  they  thought  we  might  jx)ssibly  get  up 
on  the  plateau.  We  built  a  cairn  on  a  great  flat-topped 
rock  at  the  forks  of  the  canon,  left  a  record  in  it,  cached 
some  of  our  small  store  of  petroleum  and  every  bit  of 
equipment  with  which  we  could  dispense,  and  early  the 
next  morning  hit  the  trail  again.  All  day  we  toiled,  and 
when  the  sun  began  to  swing  into  the  north  finally 
got  up  onto  the  plateau.  Though  we  saw  spoor  of 
musk-oxen,  none  were  fresh;  our  dogs  were  worn  and 
weak  and  suffering;  unless  we  found  meat  quickly  we 
should  be  in  a  precarious  situation. 


APPENDIX  II  357 

We  sledged  along  a  broad  flat  valley  on  the  plateau, 
until  we  came  to  a  small  lake,  surrounded  by  high  hills. 
We  crossed  the  lake  and  made  camp  at  its  upj>er  end. 
The  cold  was  intense  and  the  wind  blew  a  gale.  Our 
poor  dogs  were  fast  failing.  After  tea,  Esayoo  and  I 
set  out  in  different  directions  in  search  of  musk-oxen; 
though  we  were  gone  for  hours,  we  found  no  trace  of 
them  or  any  other  game. 

All  night  the  wind  blew.  When  we  dug  our  dogs  out 
of  the  snow  the  next  morning  we  found  that  nearly  all 
had  eaten  their  traces  and  that  they  were  almost  too 
weak  to  move.  I  had  to  put  two  of  mine  on  the  sledge, 
while  Esayoo  and  E-took-a-shoo  each  had  to  take  one 
of  his  own.  Esayoo  and  I  started  out  ahead  over  the 
hills,  pushing  the  sledges  to  help  the  dogs  at  every  little 
drift  or  rise.  We  got  to  the  top  of  the  divide  and 
started  down.  Going  down  the  sloi>e  on  the  other  side 
was  easy  enough,  for  the  sledges  went  almost  of  their 
own  weight.  Near  the  bottom,  as  we  swung  around  a 
ledge  of  rock,  we  nearly  collided  with  a  big  musk-ox. 
Our  dogs  forgot  they  were  weak  and  tired,  and  set  wildly 
after  him.  Then  we  saw  two  more,  then  three,  and 
finally  a  herd  of  eight  bunched  up  to  fight  us  off.  Our 
dogs  rushed  in  upon  them,  and  in  a  few  moments  we  had 
shot  them.  When  E-took-a-shoo  came  in  a  few  minutes 
later  we  were  able  to  greet  him  exultantly  with  an 
abundance  of  meat.     Our  ordeal  was  over. 

We  made  Camp  Remington  at  this  place,  and  stayed 
over  for  a  day  to  rest  our  dogs  and  to  give  them  a  full 
feed.  We  were  far  up  toward  the  divide  of  Grant  Land, 
and  Mt.  Arthur,  a  snow-covered,  rounded  dome,  rose 
Hke  a  barrier  before  us.  While  we  were  camj>ed  there 
we  looked  everywhere  for  the  lake  that,  according  to 


358       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Lieutenant  Lockwood's  map,  should  lie  at  the  foot  of 
Mt.  Arthur,  but  could  find  nothing  but  a  great  plain 
on  the  site. 

After  the  rest  and  the  abundance  of  food  at  Camp 
Remington,  we  were  again  ready  for  anything  that 
might  happen.  We  headed  due  north,  traveling  along 
the  left  of  Veery  River  until  we  passed  Mt.  Arthur. 
We  searched  eagerly  for  the  cairn  that  Maj.  A.  W.  Greely 
built  at  its  foot  in  1882,  that  we  might  take  back  with 
us  the  record  that  he  left  there  then,  but  we  were  dis- 
appointed in  our  search. 

From  the  top  of  a  large  mountain  north  of  Mt. 
Arthur,  which  I  climbed  while  Esayoo  and  E-took-a- 
shoo  made  tea  about  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of 
May  22d,  I  first  saw  Lake  Hazen,  some  ten  miles  to  the 
northwest  of  us.  We  knew  that  we  were  approaching 
its  upper  end,  but  had  not  caught  a  glimpse  of  it  before. 
The  view  to  the  north  was  truly  wonderful.  The  Con- 
ger Mountains,  nearly  all  round-topped  and  white  with 
snow,  lay  in  the  foreground  like  a  snow  wall,  Mt.  Council 
and  Mt.  Biederbick  rising  distinct  above  the  rest. 
Behind  them,  farther  away,  rose  the  high,  black,  sharp 
peaks  of  the  United  States  range.  To  the  northeast  lay 
Lake  Hazen,  a  snow-white  plain,  set  among  the  snow- 
clad  hills.  But  in  all  the  landscape,  the  wide  valley  at 
the  head  of  the  lake  flanked  by  steep  walls  was  the  most 
sj>ectacular  feature.  Not  a  bit  of  snow  covered  the  plain 
or  the  cliffs  about,  and  white  steam  was  rising  from*the 
upper  reaches  of  the  lake  and  the  pools  of  the  plain, 
as  from  a  witch's  caldron.  This  dark,  steaming  valley 
set  among  the  white,  calm  hills  looked  like  a  veritable 
inferno. 

After  a  careful  survey  of  the  way  ahead  of  us  I  hur- 


APPENDIX  II  S59 

ried  down  to  Esayoo  and  E-took-a-shoo  to  tell  them  the 
good  news.  While  we  drank  our  tea  we  talked  over  our 
route,  and  decided  to  try  to  get  to  the  head  of  the 
valley,  if  not  to  the  lake,  that  day.  Soon  after  we 
started,  the  valley  of  the  Veery  River  narrowed  down 
to  a  mere  gorge,  across  which  numerous  landslides  had 
thrown  high  rock  barriers.  Eighteen  times  that  after- 
noon we  had  to  unload  our  sledges  and  carry  our  equip- 
ment over  such  barriers.  By  the  time  we  reached  the 
end  of  the  gorge,  we  were  all  fatigued  and  cross,  even 
the  dogs  being  in  exceedingly  bad  humor. 

On  the  flat  where  we  pitched  camp  at  the  mouth  of 
the  gorge  hundreds  of  Arctic  hares  were  feeding.  They 
were  not  at  all  timid,  and  came  up  within  a  few  yards 
of  our  sledges.  Esayoo's  whole  team  of  dogs  broke 
loose  and  chased  i>ellmell  up  the  mountain-side  after 
a  pair  of  the  fleet  white  hares.  The  dogs  came  back 
soon,  all  except  one.  I  felt  sorry  for  old  Esayoo,  upon 
whom  the  hard  trail  had  been  most  wearing  that  after- 
noon, and  went  out  to  seek  his  dog.  After  about  an 
hour's  search  I  found  it,  its  trace  caught  between  two 
rocks,  and  brought  it  back  to  camp.  Supper  that  eve- 
ning was  one  of  the  best  meals  I  have  ever  eaten. 

The  next  day  was  hard  indeed.  We  sledged  down 
the  flat  river  valley  over  rocks,  gravel,  sand,  and  all 
kinds  of  going.  Often  we  waded  through  water  up 
above  our  boot-tops;  at  other  times  we  were  in  mud. 
For  haK  a  mile  the  upper  end  of  Lake  Hazen  is  very 
shallow,  and  there  the  ice  was  all  rotten,  in  places 
quite  melted.  It  was  the  most  unpleasant  going  we 
had  experienced  since  our  first  day  out  from  Etah. 

We  finally  passed  the  opyen  water  and  got  on  good  ice. 
We  made  camp  beside  a  small  islet  near  the  head  of 


860       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

the  lake;  though  we  hunted  for  musk-ox,  we  found 
none;  only  old  skulls  and  skeletons,  where  Peary's 
Eskimos — Esayoo  among  them — had  killed  game  years 
before.  Another  day's  march  brought  us  to  the  source 
of  Ruggles  River,  the  outlet  from  the  lake.  Here  we 
had  exj>ected  to  find  a  pK)ol  of  open  water  in  which 
we  might  catch  some  of  the  big,  fat  Lake  Hazen  salmon, 
but  we  were  disappointed  to  find  it  frozen  solid.  Not 
being  able  to  fish  in  open  water,  we  had  to  make  a  hole 
through  the  ice  if  we  wanted  any  salmon;  hence, 
E-took-a-shoo  and  I  dug  two  holes  with  our  picks  and 
hatchets,  both  holes  over  eight  feet  deep.  Much  to  our 
chagrin,  we  struck  the  gravel  at  the  bottom  instead  of 
water.  Hungry  as  we  were  for  salmon,  we  gave  up 
such  unlucky  fishing.  We  killed  three  nice,  fat  musk- 
oxen,  though,  not  far  from  the  mouth  of  the  lake. 

We  were  sorely  disappointed  to  find  no  one  here  to 
meet  us.  We  had  confidently  expected  to  see  some  one, 
perhaps  Tank,  perhaps  Mac,  perhaps  Hal,  and  a  num- 
ber of  Eskimos.  Since  they  were  not  here,  we  concluded 
they  would  meet  us  at  Fort  Conger. 

It  was  at  this  camp  that  I  was  suddenly  seized  with 
cramps  and  thought  I  should  die.  I  could  not  imagine 
what  was  the  matter,  for  all  the  time  on  the  trail  before 
I  had  not  been  ill  a  minute.  While  lying  in  my  sleeping- 
bag,  I  hapi>ened  to  recall  a  tale  I  had  once  read  of  an 
Eskimo  who  had  eaten  a  lot  of  warm  caribou  tallow, 
and  afterward  drunk  some  ice-water,  with  the  result 
that  the  tallow  stiffened  in  his  pyloric  sphincter  and 
killed  him.  I  remembered  that  I  had  committed  the 
same  indiscretion  that  day  and  felt  certain  of  my  im- 
pending demise  as  a  consequence.  I  hurriedly  wrote 
some  good-by  messages,  told  Esayoo  what  of  my  equip- 


APPENDIX  II  861 

ment  to  take  to  Etah  and  what  to  leave  behind,  and 
resigned  myself  to  the  mercy  of  my  sphincter.  The 
next  morning  I  woke  still  alive,  hope  returned,  and 
despite  my  sphincter  I  took  the  trail  happy  again. 

Ruggles  River,  the  outlet  of  Lake  Hazen,  was  a 
splendid  thoroughfare.  It  is  a  great  frozen  stream 
some  quarter  of  a  mile  wide  and  forty  feet  deep,  frozen 
solid.  We  drove  in  a  canon  about  twenty  feet  deep, 
cut  in  the  ice  by  the  water  from  the  lake,  and  on  the 
good  going  soon  reached  salt  water.  We  had  successfully 
crossed  Grant  Land  from  salt  water  to  salt  water  again. 

The  going  down  Chandler  Fjord  and  up  to  Lady 
Franklin  Bay  was  hard,  because  the  snow  was  so  deep 
and  soft.  Summer  was  fast  coming  and  the  noonday 
sun  was  warm.  Seals  were  numerous  on  the  ice;  on 
Chandler  Fjord,  Esayoo  got  a  large  one  for  our  dogs, 
the  first  they  had  had  for  months.  Accustomed  to 
musk-ox  meat  for  so  long,  the  dogs  could  not  digest  the 
fat  seal  meat,  and  repeatedly  vomited  all  they  had 
eaten.  From  Lake  Hazen  to  Lady  Franklin  Bay  we 
made  four  marches;  our  three  camps  were  Camps  Bart- 
lett,  Borup,  and  Marvin. 

Camp  Marvin  was  on  the  point  of  the  little  peninsula 
north  of  Sun  Bay.  At  this  camp  a  great  polar  bear  came 
to  call  upK)n  us.  We  had  just  got  into  our  sleeping-bags 
when  our  dogs  began  baying  madly.  We  thought  at 
once  that  a  big  herd  of  musk-oxen  that  Esayoo  had 
seen  just  after  we  had  made  camp  had  wandered 
down  so  close  that  the  dogs  had  winded  them.  We 
all  rushed  out  to  investigate;  on  a  flat  pan  of  ice  less 
than  one  hundred  yards  from  our  tent  a  big  polar  bear 
sat  on  his  haunches,  calmly  surveying  our  camp  and 
dogs.    We  cut  the  traces  of  our  dogs,  and  Mr.  Bear 


362      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

had  to  move.  He  headed  for  an  iceberg  about  a  half- 
mile  from  camp,  and  made  it  before  the  dogs  "treed" 
him.  Dressed  only  in  their  underclothes,  boots,  and 
rifles,  my  two  companions  hurried  out  after  him.  I 
stopj>ed  long  enough  to  augment  my  costume  by  a  pair 
of  snow-shoes,  my  hunting-knife,  and  my  camera. 
When  I  got  out  to  the  bear  the  dogs  were  worrying  him 
sadly;  they  seemed  to  annoy  him  grievously;  every 
hair  on  his  body  was  dripping  j>erspiration,  and  every 
few  moments  he  threw  his  great  head  into  the  wind  to 
take  a  sniff  of  its  ozone.  I  photographed  him  to  my 
heart's  content,  and  then  put  a  .32  Remington  bullet 
through  his  skull.  His  soft,  golden-white  pelt  was 
beautiful. 

From  Camp  Marvin  we  made  a  visit  to  Fort  Conger, 
the  site  of  Major  Greely's  headquarters.  We  campled 
there  one  night,  boiling  our  meat  and  tea  on  the  old 
Army  Range  No.  1  which  still  stands  in  good  condition, 
though  rusty,  in  the  kitchen,  the  only  part  left  of  the 
headquarters'  house.  We  made  excellent  coffee  from 
some  we  found  in  a  sealed  tin  in  the  old  kitchen;  strange 
to  say,  it  retained  its  aroma  fresh  and  strong;  we  en- 
joyed it  very  much,  and  when  we  left,  Esayoo  took 
several  ix)unds  with  him.  All  about  the  place,  even  in 
the  kitchen,  we  found  relatively  fresh  spoor  of  many 
musk-oxen.  To  search  about  the  ruins  was  very  in- 
teresting, though  not  much  is  left  of  all  the  equipment 
abandoned  by  the  exj>edition.  The  tablet  put  up  toT  the 
memory  of  C.  W.  Paul  and  J.  J.  Hand,  of  H.M.S. 
Discovery,  members  of  Nares's  North  Greenland  Explor- 
ing Party,  who  died  of  scurvy  while  out  on  the  trail, 
and  who  were  buried  at  Hall's  Rest  on  Polaris  Bay, 
stands  clear  and  uninjured  by  storm  and  wind. 


APPENDIX  n  S63 

In  one  of  the  shanties  that  Peary's  Eskimos  have 
built  of  the  material  of  old  Fort  Conger,  we  found  a 
series  of  records  left  by  MacMillan  in  1909,  when  he 
stayed  at  the  place  for  two  weeks  or  more,  taking  tidal 
observations.  They  had  been  written  in  one  of  Major 
Greely's  old  note-books.  I  made  copies  of  them, 
added  a  message  of  my  own,  and  replaced  the  book. 
Because  it  was  May  30th,  Memorial  Day,  I  added  to 
my  note  a  quotation  in  memory  of  C.  W.  Paul  and 
J.  J.  Hand,  heroes  of  Arctic  service,  and  the  brave 
fellows  of  Major  Greely's  party  who  lived  here  for  two 
years,  and  left  only  to  die  on  the  bleak  rocks  of  Cape 
Sabine. 

And  only  the  Master  shall  praise  us,  and  only  the  Master  shall 

blame. 
And  no  one  shall  work  for  money,  and  no  one  shall  work  for  fame. 
But  each  for  the  joy  of  the  working,  and  each  in  his  separate  sphere. 
Shall  draw  the  thing  as  he  sees  it  for  the  God  of  things  as  they  are — 

Kipling. 

As  on  Lake  Hazen,  we  were  disappointed  to  find  no 
one  at  Fort  Conger  to  meet  us.  We  had  confidently 
expected  to  find  a  party  in  camp  there.  As  we  crossed 
over  from  Bellot  Island  to  Fort  Conger,  a  gull  shrieked 
somewhere  out  in  the  rough  ice,  and  we  were  sure  for 
a  while  that  we  had  heard  dogs.  But  time  showed  that 
no  one  had  come. 

From  Fort  Conger  we  drove  to  the  head  of  Discovery 
Bay,  where  we  had  seen  a  herd  of  musk-oxen  on  the 
mountain-side  when  we  made  Camp  Marvin.  The 
musk-oxen  were  far  up  the  mountain,  almost  to  the 
crest.  E-took-a-shoo  stayed  down  on  the  ice  to  watch 
the  dogs  while  Esayoo  and  I  went  up  after  the  musk- 
oxen.    We  each  of  us  took  one  dog.    In  the  warm  sun- 

24 


364       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

shine  the  climb  up  the  hill  made  us  both  pant  and  i>er- 
spire,  but,  realizing  that  these  would  probably  be  our 
last  musk-oxen  of  the  trip,  we  were  not  averse  to  the 
exertion.  We  let  our  dogs  go  when  we  were  over  a 
quarter-mile  away  from  our  quarry.  Contrary  to  their 
usual  custom  of  grouping  in  a  square  to  fight  off  the 
dogs,  these  musk-oxen  started  to  run  up  to  the  crest. 
Fearing  that  we  should  lose  them,  Esayoo  said  we  must 
shoot  at  once.  With  his  big  .35  Winchester  he  dropi>ed 
the  foremost  just  as  the  big  fellow  passed  a  gap  in 
the  rocks;  with  my  .32  high-jwwer  Remington  I  got 
the  next;  Esayoo  took  the  third;  I  the  fourth;  and 
shooting  alternately,  we  killed  the  whole  herd  of  eleven, 
including  three  yearlings. 

E-took-a-shoo,  when  he  heard  the  firing,  let  slip  the 
dogs  we  had  left  behind,  and  soon  they  appeared  on  the 
scene,  hot  and  tired,  but  ready  for  a  good  feed.  Not 
long  after,  E-took-a-shoo  came,  too.  We  fed  our  dogs 
the  meat  of  three  animals  and  then  cut  up  the  rest, 
taking  out  all  the  bones.  Since  we  were  quite  certain 
we  should  find  no  more  musk-oxen,  we  reserved  all  the 
tenderloins,  the  f>orterhouses,  the  hearts,  and  some  of 
the  other  choice  pieces  for  our  own  food  for  the  rest  of 
the  trail.  Esayoo  cracked  all  the  marrow-bones  and 
kept  the  marrow,  a  most  highly  esteemed  delicacy  among 
the  Eskimos,  to  take  home  to  Anowee,  his  wife.  Anxious 
to  get  as  much  of  the  remaining  meat  as  possible  down 
to  our  sledges,  we  lashed  it  into  the  three  biggesf  of 
the  musk-ox  skins,  hitched  our  teams  to  them,  and 
skidded  down  the  mountain-side.  Needless  to  say  it 
was  a  unique  ride.  The  improvised  toboggans  rolled 
and  twisted  and  turned,  so  that  we  kept  our  seats  on 
them  only  by  hanging  on  for  dear  life.    The  dogs  did 


APPENDIX  II  365 

not  stop  for  drifts  or  ledges  or  puddles;  they  seemed 
to  enjoy  the  mad  dash  down  the  mountain-side  as  well 
as  we  did. 

This  herd  of  musk-oxen  was  the  last  we  saw.  After 
we  got  our  sledges  reloaded  we  returned  to  Camp  Mar- 
vin, where  we  slept,  before  starting  on  our  homeward 
journey.  Leaving  Camp  Marvin  early  June  3d,  we 
headed  directly  across  Lady  Franklin  Bay  to  Cai>e 
Baird.  The  ice  was  rather  rough,  but  E-took-a-shoo, 
who  led  the  party,  was  adept  at  picking  out  the  smooth- 
est trail  possible.  Because  the  ice  around  Cape  Baird 
was  crushed  and  piled  up  chaotically,  we  were  several 
times  forced  to  sledge  up  on  the  land  to  get  by.  Most 
of  the  afternoon  we  traveled  slowly  through  the  rough 
ice,  but  about  six  o'clock  we  struck  smooth  ice  that 
extended  the  whole  length  of  Kennedy  Channel,  so  far 
as  we  could  see  from  the  heights  of  Cape  Defosse,  at 
the  foot  of  which  we  made  Camp  Archer  about  nine 
o'clock  that  evening. 

Early  June  4th  we  broke  camp  again,  eager  to  get 
down  to  Cap>e  Constitution,  where  Mac  had  promised 
to  make  the  first  cache  for  our  return.  We  were  in 
need  of  no  supplies,  for  we  still  had  oil,  tea,  and  suffi- 
cient meat,  but  we  expected  to  find  letters  there,  too. 
We  made  splendid  time.  The  ice  was  smooth  as  glass. 
Two  wide  leads,  over  which  we  ferried  on  ice-cakes, 
indicated  that  the  ice  was  breaking  up,  an  added  in- 
centive to  strike  the  Greenland  shore  as  soon  as  jws- 
sible.  Not  until  we  were  near  Hans  Island  did  we 
encounter  any  serious  obstacle. 

Just  a  mile  or  so  north  of  that  little  island  our  progress 
was  stopped  by  a  monster  pressure-ridge  about  forty 
feet  high  that  seemed  to  extend  quite  across  the  channel. 


366       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

South  of  this  ridge  the  ice  was  thrown  up  in  great  moun- 
tain-like ridges  and  Cordilleras  of  ice-piles,  the  most 
chaotic  expanse  of  rough  ice  I  have  ever  seen.  We 
tumped  our  loads  and  sledges  over  the  first  barrier  ridge. 
After  we  hitched  our  dogs  to  the  sledges  again,  we  pro- 
ceeded toward  Hans  Island;  after  three  hours'  toilsome 
work  we  had  not  yet  reached  the  island. 

We  made  camp  on  a  flat  floeberg  that  aflforded  us  a 
large  enough  smooth  surface  to  set  up  a  tent.  After 
supper  we  all  cUmbed  to  the  top  of  the  island  to  survey 
the  route  ahead.  The  prospect  was  anything  but 
pleasant.  As  far  as  we  could  see  with  our  glasses,  the 
ice  was  as  rough  as  that  we  had  just  passed  through. 
Finally  we  decided  to  drive  around  the  west  end  of  the 
island  and  head  for  Franklin  Island,  in  the  lee  of  which 
we  might  find  some  smooth  ice. 

The  next  morning  we  again  broke  camp  early.  By 
carefully  picking  our  way  we  got  to  the  southwest  cor- 
ner of  Franklin  Island  about  two  o'clock.  Along  the 
west  and  south  sides  we  encountered  such  rough  ice 
that  I  despaired  of  getting  through.  E-took-a-shoo  took 
the  lead  and  picked  the  way.  I  remember  that  part  of 
the  trail  as  a  bad  dream.  We  pulled  and  pushed  and 
tugged  at  our  sledges;  sometimes  we  had  to  lift  them 
over  almost  sheer  walls;  sometimes  we  had  to  pull  them 
out  of  jX)ols  of  water;  sometimes  we  had  to  dig  them 
out  of  soggy  drifts  of  snow.  We  were  stripj>ed  down  to 
essentials  so  far  as  clothes  went,  reeking  with.,  per- 
spiration, thoroughly  soaked  from  falling  into  or  wading 
through  numerous  j>ools.  There  was  no  ice-foot  along 
the  island,  for  the  ice  was  pushed  up  over  a  hundred 
feet  on  the  sloj>es.  In  seven  hours  of  utmost  exertion 
we  made  only  three  miles. 


APPENDIX  II  867 

Then  just  as  we  were  about  to  make  camp,  all  tired 
out,  we  struck  smooth  ice,  new  and  thin  and  treacher- 
ous, but  a  splendid  thoroughfare.  We  took  heart  again 
and  decided  to  try  for  Cape  Constitution.  Except  for 
breaking  through  the  young  ice  occasionally,  and  hav- 
ing to  go  around  a  number  of  p>ools  and  to  ferry  over 
a  couple  of  leads,  we  made  rattling  good  time.  A  great 
lake  of  open  water  extended  westward  from  the  cape. 
We  went  south  of  it. 

Esayoo,  who  led  the  way,  skilfully  selected  the  safest, 
easiest  route,  and  we  were  at  the  cai>e  in  two  hours. 
We  stopped  to  look  carefully  for  the  flag  that  was  to 
mark  the  cache,  but  could  see  none.  After  searching  all 
about  the  cap>e,  we  finally  concluded  that  Mac  for  some 
reason  had  been  unable  to  get  the  supplies  to  the  cape. 

We  started  out  again.  We  had  not  gone  a  hundred 
yards  when  Esayoo  called  out,  "Sledge  tracks!"  and 
pointed  to  a  little  patch  of  snow  on  which  both  dog 
tracks  and  the  traces  of  sledge  runners  were  clearly 
distinguishable.  We  examined  them  and  concluded  that 
they  had  been  made  that  day. 

Great  was  our  excitement,  eager  our  anticipation. 
Even  our  dogs  felt  it,  and,  sniffing  at  the  tracks,  were 
wild  to  set  out  in  pursuit.  At  Esayoo's  suggestion  that 
we  might  catch  up  with  them  if  we  did  not  camp,  we 
started  out  again.  Driving  his  dogs  at  their  best  speed, 
E-took-a-shoo  led,  Esayoo  and  I  following  him  close. 
As  we  drove  we  scanned  carefully  the  tracks  we  fol- 
lowed, to  find  some  clue  as  to  whom  the  sledges  belonged. 
We  felt  sure  that  Oobloyah's  was  one  of  them,  for  we 
could  recognize  the  track  of  his  sledge.  Who  the  others 
were  we  could  only  guess,  but  we  knew  that  before  long 
we  should  see  them. 


368       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Yet  we  were  not  prepared  to  find  them  as  soon  as 
we  did.  We  were  crossing  Lafayette  Bay  after  about 
a  half-hour's  driving  when  we  heard  a  rifle-shot  near 
us.  Our  dogs  went  wild  and  headed  at  right  angles 
to  our  course,  directly  into  the  bay.  Not  a  half-mile 
from  us,  nestled  down  at  the  foot  of  the  high,  gloomy 
cliffs,  gleamed  the  little  brown  tanalite  tent  we  knew  so 
well,  with  sledges  grouped  about  it,  and  a  white  man 
and  some  Eskimos. 

In  less  time  than  it  takes  to  tell  we  were  at  the  camp. 
Fitz,  for  it  was  he,  rushed  out  on  the  ice  to  greet  me 
and  to  welcome  me  back.  Oobloyah  and  Arklio  were 
the  others  of  the  party,  all  of  them  our  good  friends, 
all  glad  to  see  us. 

They  took  charge  of  our  dogs  and  sledges,  the  while 
our  tongues  wagged  busily  when  our  mouths  were  not 
filled  with  the  fruit  and  cakes  and  other  good  things 
they  pressed  uix)n  us.  I  was  glad  to  talk  American 
again,  glad  to  hear  that  all  was  well  at  headquarters, 
glad  to  get  all  the  news  that  Fitz  gave  me. 

The  party  had  intended  to  meet  us  at  Fort  Conger, 
but,  having  encountered  the  open  water  at  Cai>e  Con- 
stitution, had  wisely  decided  not  to  go  beyond  it.  The 
oi>en  season  was  at  hand,  and  it  would  not  have  been 
discreet  to  proceed,  for,  even  if  my  party  had  been  in 
difficulty,  our  situation  would  not  have  been  bettered 
by  the  addition  of  still  others  unable  to  return.  In- 
stead, Fitz  planned  to  put  in  caches  at  prominent  points 
along  the  return  route. 

Had  our  party  been  a  day  later,  we  should  not 
have  found  Fitz  and  his  men  at  Cap>e  Constitution. 
The  hunting  there  was  not  good,  whereas  back 
at   Cai>e  Calhoun  seals  were  numerous  on  the  ice,  and 


APPENDIX  II  369 

bears  not  uncommoa,  so  they  had  decided  to  go 
there. 

We  stayed  a  day  at  Cai>e  Constitution.  It  was  a 
merry  party  that  headed  back  across  Peabody  Bay. 
The  trip  was  pleasant,  for  the  weather  was  fine,  the 
going  fairly  good,  and  game  abundant.  In  due  time 
we  reached  Cape  Kent,  south  of  the  Humboldt  Glacier. 
We  made  no  camp  after  reaching  land  until  we  got  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Mary  Minturn  River.  Here  three 
Eskimo  families  were  encamped  on  the  site  of  an  old 
Eskimo  village,  uninhabited  so  long  that  none  of  the 
tribe  could  remember  when  any  one  had  lived  there. 
We  stayed  there  but  a  day  to  give  our  dogs  rest,  and 
me  an  opj>ortunity  to  make  a  brief  survey  of  the  plants 
now  beginning  to  bloom  on  the  warm,  sheltered  ledges 
where  the  snow  had  melted.  Apparently  during  the 
summer  this  village  is  a  pleasant  place,  for  the  vegetation 
is  luxuriant  and  the  ruins  of  a  number  of  large  Eskimo 
stone  houses  attest  the  fact  that  many  people  have 
lived  there  at  one  time. 

But  we  were  eager  to  get  back,  so  we  soon  set  out 
again.  Stopping  only  at  Rensselaer  Harbor,  to  visit 
the  site  of  Doctor  Kane's  expedition,  in  one  march  we 
traveled  from  this  village  to  Anoritok,  where  many  of 
our  Etah  Eskimos  were  encamped  for  the  summer 
hunting-season.  Jot  had  been  there  hunting  until  only 
a  few  days  before,  and  Hal  had  been  up  to  doctor  a 
sick  Eskimo,  but  they  had  gone  home  to  Etah  ahead 
of  us.  We  stayed  a  day  at  Anoritok,  and  then  started 
for  home. 

It  was  the  last  day's  march.  At  Lifeboat  Cave, 
about  ten  miles  from  Etah  as  the  crow  flies,  we  went 
up   overland.     As    we    started    up    it    began    raining. 


370      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Though  our  drive  down  the  valley  to  the  terrace  above 
headquarters  was  in  the  worst  weather  we  experienced 
on  the  trail,  we  did  not  mind  it.  We  were  veterans  of 
the  trail  now,  and  weather  did  not  seriously  affect  us. 

We  almost  tumbled  down  the  slope  to  the  house.  Our 
dogs  seemed  more  eager  to  get  back  than  we  were,  and 
stopped  for  nothing.  The  whole  village  turned  out  to 
meet  us,  and  it  was  not  long  until  all  my  companions 
Mac,  Tank,  Hal,  Jot,  and  Allen,  and  all  the  Eskimos, 
had  greeted  me  and  welcomed  me  home.  I  had  come 
to  the  end  of  the  trail. 

The  trip  had  been  eminently  successful.  We  had  ac- 
complished nearly  all  we  had  set  out  to  do.  In  addition 
to  my  notes,  I  brought  back  with  me  valuable  collections. 
None  of  us  had  suffered  any  serious  hardships,  we  had 
lost  very  few  of  our  dogs,  and  we  had  come  safe  and 
sound  home. 

To  old  Esayoo  I  am  glad  to  give  the  lion's  share  of 
the  credit.  Throughout  the  trip  he  had  been  cheerful, 
helpful,  interested;  his  good  sense  and  judgment  had 
kept  us  out  of  trouble.  He  had  been  throughout  the 
journey,  no  matter  what  the  circumstances,  a  kind, 
pleasant  companion.  He  is  a  thorough  gentleman,  a 
boon  companion  of  the  trail.  To  E-took-a-shoo  I  wish 
to  give  due  credit,  too.  His  unfailing  good  humor,  his 
rare  hunting  ability,  and  his  excellent  driving,  all  had 
contributed  immeasurably  to  our  success. 

I  wish  to  close  my  modest  chronicle  with  this  tribute 
to  them,  my  good  companions,  true  fellows  of  the  trail, 
gentlemen  unafraid. 


APPENDIX  m 

ACROSS  THE  ICE-FIELDS  OF  MELVILLE  BAT 
W.  ELMEB  EKBLAW 

The  Danmark,  the  second  ship  sent  to  our  relief, 
lay  frozen  in  the  ice  near  North  Star  Bay  during  the 
winter  of  1916-17.  She  had  reached  the  harbor  after 
mid-September,  a  month  too  late  to  insure  a  successful 
escape  from  the  ice-barred  reaches  of  BaflSn  Bay  and 
Smith  Sound.  She  could  not  get  out  of  the  ice  before 
August  the  following  year,  and  with  a  limited  supply 
of  coal,  she  might  have  difficulty  even  then  in  forcing 
her  way  through. 

Doctor  Hunt  and  I  had  been  aboard  her  from  the 
time  of  her  arrival.  Her  officers  made  us  welcome, 
and  as  comfortable  as  limited  quarters  p)ermitted. 
They  were  kind,  courteous,  and  hospitable.  Most  of 
them  could  speak  a  little  American,  and  knew  enough 
of  American  customs  and  characteristics  to  play  a  good 
hand  at  friendly  poker.  Food  was  abundant,  and  the 
cooking  good. 

But  we  were  eager  to  be  back  on  home  lands  once 
more,  and  with  orders  from  Mac  to  proceed  home  by 
sledge  that  winter,  we  were  glad  when  Knud  Rasmussen, 
who  had  agreed  to  accompany  us,  sent  us  word  very 


372       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

early  the  morning  of  December  18th  that  we  should 
start  that  day  for  Danish  Greenland.  We  had  ex- 
pected to  start  earlier,  but  delay  in  the  post  from  Etah, 
and  a  heavy  wind  and  snowstorm,  had  kept  us  to  the 
boat  and  the  station.  We  had  been  ready  for  over  a 
week  to  start  at  the  word  from  Rasmussen  that  he 
wished  to  leave. 

Rasmussen  had  spent  the  month  of  November  bear- 
hunting  on  Melville  Bay,  across  which  we  would  sledge 
from  Cape  York  to  the  settlements  in  Danish  Green- 
land. He  had  come  back  reporting  good  sledging,  and 
much  bear  meat  cached  along  the  way,  conditions  fa- 
vorable to  a  rapid  and  easy  traverse  of  the  long  ice-fields 
to  cross  the  bay.  He  felt  sure  that  we  should  spend 
Christmas  in  Tasiusak,  the  northernmost  Danish  station, 
and  New  Year's  in  Upernavik,  the  home  of  the  governor 
of  the  northernmost  colonial  district. 

Soon  after  his  messenger  brought  us  word  that  we 
should  start  that  day,  he  himself  came  aboard  the  ship 
to  see  that  all  our  arrangements  were  complete,  and 
to  get  our  baggage.  The  captain  of  the  ship  and  his 
officers  had  arranged  a  farewell  breakfast  for  us,  and 
our  departure  was  delayed  until  this  had  been  eaten 
and  all  farewells  said. 

Six  sledges  were  to  form  our  train  to  the  Danish 
colonies,  but  when  we  left  North  Star  Bay,  five  others 
set  out  with  us  to  go  as  far  as  Parker  Snow  Bay  to  get 
some  coal  that  the  Cluett  had  left  for  Rasmussen's 
station  the  preceding  summer.  Among  these  five 
sledges  was  that  of  Doctor  Wulff,  the  ill-fated  Swedish 
ethnologist  and  botanist  who  has  since  perished  of 
starvation  in  the  far  North.  It  was  his  first  experience 
at  driving  dogs,  and  that  night,  when  we  made  camp 


APPENDIX  III  373 

at  the  mouth  of  Parker  Snow  Bay,  though  he  did  not 
come  in  until  four  hours  after  the  rest,  he  pluckily  kept 
the  trail  despite  fog  and  darkness,  until  he  reached  his 
goal. 

Our  entire  party  was  encamped  in  two  tents,  rather 
crowded  accommodations  for  so  many,  and  we  were 
glad  when  we  left  the  next  morning  that  we  .should  no 
longer  be  so  many  the  rest  of  the  way.  From  this  camp 
only  those  sledges  that  were  to  go  the  whole  distance 
continued  the  way;  the  rest  loaded  with  coal  and  re- 
turned to  North  Star  Bay. 

From  Parker  Snow  Bay  to  the  settlement  at  Cape 
York,  the  going  was  heavy,  and  the  snow  everywhere 
deep,  often  with  water  beneath  it  into  which  the  sledges 
sank,  and  stuck  so  that  the  dogs  could  not  pull  them 
out  unaided.  Heavy  flurries  of  snow,  in  which  it  was 
difficult  to  pick  our  way,  further  retarded  our  progress; 
though  we  left  Parker  Snow  Bay  at  eleven  o'clock  in 
the  morning,  we  did  not  get  into  Cape  York  until  long 
after  midnight.  Ordinarily,  with  good  going,  the  dis- 
tance could  have  been  covered  in  half  the  time. 

We  stayed  at  Cap)e  York  feeding  our  dogs  and  our- 
selves until  midnight  of  the  twenty-first.  At  the 
"breakfast"  that  I  ate  that  morning  soon  after  Ras- 
mussen  had  announced  that  we  should  start,  I  made 
way  with  seventeen  whole  raw  dovekies,  a  gastronomic 
record  for  me.  From  Cape  York  we  should  find  no 
Eskimo  villages  until  we  got  to  Cape  Seddon,  quite 
across  the  bay. 

The  Eskimo  reported  heavy  going  ahead  of  us — much 
"pootenook,"  that  is,  heavy  snow  with  water  on  the 
thin  ice  under  it.  We  started  away  at  four  o'clock,  and 
not  long  after  we  began  to  strike  deep  snow,  as  yet  with 


874       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

no  water  beneath.  The  weather  was  clear,  calm,  and 
crisply  cold,  with  a  temi>erature  of  more  than  40  de- 
grees below  zero,  Fahrenheit.  Because  our  dogs  were 
fresh  and  rested,  we  made  fairly  good  time,  despite  the 
deep  snow,  until  we  had  passed  Salvo  Island. 

After  we  left  that  island,  we  soon  struck  the  "jxk)- 
tenook,'*  and  the  going  was  fearful.  We  waded  through 
thin-crusted  snow  nearly  two  feet  deep,  the  lower  por- 
tion saturated  with  water,  and  we  had  to  push  the 
sledges  along  to  help  the  dogs.  Doctor  Hunt  and  I  tried 
our  snow-shoes,  but  they  helped  us  only  in  places.  Such 
going,  at  such  low  temperature,  soon  wears  out  both 
dogs  and  men,  and  we  had  not  gone  far  before  we  had 
to  make  camp.  A  low  floeberg  afforded  us  a  camj>-site 
out  of  the  slush. 

The  next  day  we  got  no  farther  than  Camp  Melville, 
the  going  all  day  having  been  through  "p>ootenook.'*  In 
four  marches  out  from  our  camp  at  Cap>e  Melville  we 
made  so  little  distance  that  in  the  dim  noonday  twilight 
we  could  still  discern  the  black  cliff,  "Imnadooksuah," 
just  to  the  east  of  the  cape,  and  we  wondered  if  we 
should  ever  leave  it  behind. 

Men  and  dogs  were  discouraged.  Food  was  not 
abundant,  and  the  going  exceedingly  hard  and  weari- 
some. The  twenty-fourth  day  of  December  was  par- 
ticularly hard.  Doctor  Hunt  snow-shoed  until  the  ten- 
dons in  his  ankles  became  chafed  and  inflamed,  and  he 
developed  such  a  case  of  mal  du  racquette  that  he  cbuld 
hardly  walk  farther;  I  froze  both  my  big  toes,  and 
wore  two  big  sores  on  the  back  of  my  ankle  where  the 
thong  in  my  boot  passed  across.  A  bitter  cold  wind 
blew  down  from  the  ice-cap  to  the  northeast,  and  a  chill 
damp  snow-fog  enveloped  us  as  the  afternoon  wore  on 


APPENDIX  III  875 

and  darkness  submerged  us.  When  time  came  to  make 
camp,  we  could  not  find  for  a  long  time  any  iceberg  in 
the  lee  of  which  to  shelter  our  tents  from  the  wind. 

When  finally  we  found  one  we  were  well-nigh  ex- 
hausted; in  the  heavy  fur  clothing  that  the  bitter  cold 
wind  had  necessitated  during  the  march,  I  had  per- 
spired until  my  clothes  were  wet  through;  and  while 
we  made  camp  I  got  so  chilled  that  I  was  nearly  over- 
come; I  have  never  been  so  cold  as  I  felt  then.  Even 
though  we  soon  got  our  tents  up  and  our  little  Primus 
stoves  going,  we  were  almost  frozen. 

Such  a  Christmas  Eve  as  that  was!  Huddled  to- 
gether in  our  little  tents  that  barely  sufliced  to  keep  the 
drifting  snow  out,  we  cooked  the  scant  supply  of  bear 
meat  and  tea  for  our  supp>er.  Then  Rasmussen  pro- 
duced from  his  sledge-kit  two  boxes  of  canned  pears 
that  he  divided  among  the  party,  and  I  brought  forth 
a  package  of  dates  sent  me  in  a  gift  box  brought  me 
from  my  fiancee  by  the  Cluett  the  year  before,  which  I 
had  carefully  saved  for  such  an  occasion.  From  our 
bear  meat  and  tea,  a  little  frozen  j>emniican,  and  the 
pears  and  dates,  we  made  our  Christmas  supper.  After 
we  had  cuddled  down  in  our  sleeping-bags,  tired,  and 
frozen,  and  worn,  Tobias  Gabrielsen,  a  Danish  Green- 
lander  in  my  tent,  and  I  whistled  "Stille  Nacht,  Heilige 
Nacht,"  which  we  both  knew;  then  we  exchanged 
Christmas  greetings  with  the  others  of  the  party  and 
fell  asleep. 

The  days  following  are  a  nightmare  as  I  remember 
them.  The  going  continued  hard,  the  weather  cold; 
our  food-supply  was  almost  exhausted,  and  our  dogs 
were  on  less  than  half  rations  though  they  needed  more 
than  the  usual  amount  of  food  because  of  the  severe 


376       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

cold  and  the  hard  going.  We  were  still  many  miles 
from  Caj>e  Seddon,  when  the  evening  of  the  twenty- 
eighth  we  were  so  near  exhaustion,  and  failure  of  sup- 
plies, that  Rasmussen  deemed  it  necessary  to  adopt  relief 
measures  at  once.  Selecting  two  teams  of  the  best  dogs, 
and  the  two  best  drivers  of  the  Eskimo  to  take  him,  he 
set  out  at  midnight  on  a  forced  march  to  Cape  Seddon 
to  get  relief.  When  he  left,  he  told  the  rest  of  our 
party  to  remain  where  we  were,  until  relief  sledges 
which  he  promised  to  have  out  to  us  by  daylight  of  the 
next  day  should  reach  us.  Somewhat  dubious  of  the 
plan,  we  agreed. 

The  next  day  came  and  went,  but  no  relief  appeared. 
We  had  one  scant  meal,  our  dogs  nothing.  The  situa- 
tion seemed  threatening.  About  eight  o'clock  in  the 
evening  three  of  the  Eskimos  decided  to  go,  before  their 
dogs  died.  Hoping  that  the  promised  relief  would 
reach  us,  I  urged  the  Eskimos  to  wait  at  least  until  the 
following  morning.  I  jjointed  out  the  fact  that  in  the 
darkness  of  the  night  before  Rasmussen  and  his  men 
had  probably  lost  their  way  for  a  while,  and  that  if 
our  party  were  to  set  out  on  their  trail  we  should  but 
be  lost  too.  Better,  I  said,  wait  until  the  next  day, 
when  the  twilight  would  give  us  light  enough  to  see  the 
land,  at  any  rate;  besides,  the  relief  sledges  might 
come  while  we  waited.  Finally  I  prevailed  uj>on  the 
Eskimos  to  wait  until  morning.  At  midnight  I  woke 
Doctor  Hunt  and  told  him  of  the  discussions  I  had  had 
with  the  Eskimos,  and  of  my  plans.  He  heartily  ap- 
proved of  the  course  that  I  had  suggested  to  the  Eskimos, 
and  fell  in  cordially  with  our  plans. 

At  six  o'clock  the  next  morning  we  set  out.  We  left 
everything  behind  us  except  one  tent  and  the  little 


APPENDIX  III  377 

kerosene  we  had  left.  When  twilight  appeared  we  saw 
at  once  that  Rasmussen's  party  had  headed  out  to  sea; 
so  we  immediately  shap>ed  our  course  toward  land.  We 
could  just  descry  Cai>e  Seddon  on  the  horizon.  We  felt 
sure  that  should  relief  sledges  follow  back  over  Ras- 
mussen's trail,  they  would  know  at  once  where  to  find 
us  when  they  came  to  the  place  where  we  turned  oS, 
so  we  had  no  compunction  about  choosing  our  own  new 
route.  If  none  came  we  might  reasonably  hope  to  make 
Cape  Seddon  safely. 

It  was  a  desi>erate  trail  that  sledged  its  arduous  way 
toward  Cape  Seddon.  Our  dogs  were  so  weak  they 
could  hardly  draw  the  empty  sledges.  The  going  was 
heavy.  Caj>e  Seddon  seemed  to  retreat  instead  of  com- 
ing to  meet  us.  No  relief  sledges  came.  The  forenoon 
went,  and  afternoon  was  already  well  spent  when  we 
heard  a  shout  behind  us,  and  we  saw  a  new  sledge 
rapidly  overtaking  us.  It  was  Ootah's,  sent  out  with 
two  others  to  help  us  get  back.  It  was  laden  with 
meat,  which  Ootah  distributed  as  soon  as  he  caught  up 
with  us. 

We  made  tea,  boiled  some  meat  for  ourselves,  and  fed 
our  dogs.  From  despair  we  passed  to  exultant  delight; 
the  danger  and  hardship  were  over,  for  that  time  at 
least. 

While  we  ate,  two  other  sledges  caught  up  with  us. 
From  Ootah  and  his  companions  we  learned  that  Ras- 
mussen  had  but  that  day  reached  Cape  Seddon,  for  he 
and  his  Eskimo  had  gone  far  out  of  their  course  before 
realizing  that  they  were  lost.  Though  they  had  headed 
at  once  toward  the  cai>e,  they  had  been  long  getting 
into  the  settlement  there. 

We  reached  Tooktooliksuah,  the  Eskimo  village  on 


S78       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Cape  Seddon,  at  midnight.  Some  of  the  sledges  did  not 
get  in  for  several  hours  later.  Many  of  the  dogs  were  so 
far  gone  that  they  died.  Of  one  team  of  eight  five  died, 
and  from  other  teams  several  of  the  dogs  were  lost. 

Instead  of  crossing  Melville  Bay  in  two  or  three  days, 
as  Rasmussen  had  exj>ected,  we  had  been  en  route  ten 
days,  ten  days  of  bitter  cold,  grueling  hard  going  for 
men  and  dogs,  and  constantly  increasing  fear  that  the 
trip  might  end  disastrously.  We  had  come  to  realize 
how  eflScient  a  barrier  Melville  Bay  had  been  for  cen- 
turies to  intercourse  between  the  Smith  Sound  Eskimo 
and  those  of  Danish  Greenland. 

We  rested  at  Tooktooliksuah  for  two  days  before 
starting  on  our  way.  Though  the  Eskimo  here  were  not 
abundantly  supplied  with  meat  they  had  sufficient  for 
us  and  our  dogs,  and  for  supplies  to  take  with  us  when 
we  left.  WHbile  in  camp  in  the  village  I  suffered  an 
attack  of  nose-bleed,  due  to  frosted  lining  of  the  nasal 
passages,  that  Doctor  Hunt  found  it  difficult  to  check; 
when  finally  he  got  my  nose  plugged  tight  enough  to 
stop  the  bleeding,  I  had  lost  nearly  a  six-pound  pemmi- 
can-canful  of  blood,  and  was  weak  as  a  sick  cat.  In  all 
my  Arctic  experience  I  had  not  been  in  so  disabled  a 
condition — weak  from  loss  of  blood,  both  feet  frozen 
and  sore,  both  wrists  frozen,  and  both  heel-cords  chafed 
deep.  I  was  but  a  worn,  broken  specimen  of  Arctic 
explorer, 

A  few  days  later  we  had  reached  Tasiusak,  the  n(^h- 
ernmost  Danish  station;  and  a  week  after  we  left  Caj)e 
Seddon  we  were  in  Up>ernavik,  the  capital  of  the  colony, 
where  we  found  civiKzation  strongly  intrenched  in  the 
homes  of  Governor  Vinterberg,  Pastor  Rossen,  and 
Doctor  Bryder. 


APPENDIX  in  879 

By  all  of  them  we  were  made  welcome  in  the  most 
cordial  and  hospitable  way.  They  were  exceedingly 
kind  and  courteous,  and  showed  us  every  possible  con- 
sideration as  long  as  we  were  their  guests.  The  memories 
of  Upernavik  and  the  good  j>eople  there  are  among  the 
pleasantest  of  the  four  years  of  the  expedition. 


A  SUMMER  IN  A  DANISH   GREENLAND  TRADING-POST 

When  Doctor  Hunt  and  I  reached  South  Upernavik, 
a  little  Danish  trading  outpost  along  the  west  coast  of 
Greenland  in  latitude  72°  20'  N.,  we  were  confronted 
by  open  water  that  prevented  our  continuing,  at  the 
time,  our  way  further  south,  to  a  port  where  we  might 
meet  the  first  Danish  steamer.  For  over  a  month  we 
were  forced  to  stay  at  the  home  of  the  factor  waiting 
for  colder  weather  and  new  ice.  Such  unfavorable 
conditions  as  those  of  January  and  February  of  1917 
had  not  been  known  in  midwinter  for  years — tempera- 
ture at  freezing,  rain  and  fog  every  few  days,  warm 
foehn  winds,  and  open  water  far  into  the  fjords;  the 
Eskimo  could  kill  Httle  game,  and  because  their  re- 
serves were  very  small,  they  were  soon  on  the  verge  of 
starvation. 

When  finally  cold  weather  came  again  and  new  ice 
formed  on  the  fjords,  the  dogs  in  South  Upernavik  and 
the  neighboring  village.  Proven,  were  in  such  wretched 
condition  that  it  was  next  to  impossible  to  obtain  enough 
to  take  us  on  our  farther  way.  Doctor  Hunt  and  I 
agreed  that  for  both  of  us  to  attempt  to  go  might  so 
retard  our  travel  that  neither  would  succeed.  In  such 
an  eventuality,  the  messages  we  carried  to  America, 

25 


380       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

stating  the  conditions  in  which  the  Crocker  Land  Ex- 
pedition found  itself  in  the  far  North,  and  asking  for 
continued  efforts  for  rehef ,  might  not  be  deHvered  until 
too  late.  Hence  we  decided  that,  to  insure  with  as 
much  certainty  as  possible  their  prompt  carriage  to 
America,  Doctor  Hunt  should  obtain  the  best  dogs  and 
equipment  available  and  go  southward,  while  I  stayed 
at  South  Upernavik  to  await  relief  after  the  ice  went 
out  and  a  ship  could  come  to  the  station. 

February  16th  Doctor  Hunt  left  me,  on  his  attempt 
to  get  to  Holstensborg,  where  he  might  catch  the  Hans 
Egede,  the  regular  mail-  and  passenger-steamer  plying 
between  Greenland  and  Denmark  during  the  oj>en 
season.  Because  of  thin  ice,  he  was  forced  to  go  by  an 
entirely  new  route,  directly  back  over  the  mountains. 
The  story  of  his  successful  journey  south  is  an  epic, 
a  record  of  success  over  incredible  difficulties,  and 
dauntless  perseverance  in  the  face  of  almost  insur- 
mountable obstacles. 

My  courage  sank  lower  than  it  had  been  before  in 
the  Northland  when  he  bade  me  good-by  and  sledged 
away.  After  he  left  me  I  was  quite  alone,  with  no 
certainty  that  my  enforced  stay  in  Greenland  might  not 
be  prolonged  several  years;  no  certainty  that  I  might 
not  be  dej>endent  upon  foreign  hospitality,  free  and 
friendly  though  it  be,  for  an  indefinite  time.  I  longed  to 
be  home  again  on  native  shores,  to  see  my  friends  again. 

For  a  long  time  I  watched  him,  until  at  last  his  sledges 
turned  out  of  sight  around  a  little  j>oint  across  the  fjord. 
Then  I  turned  back  to  the  little  sod-walled  trading- 
station  with  a  heart  heavy  despite  the  kind  and  re- 
assuring words  of  the  factor,  to  begin  a  five  months* 
wait  for  a  means  of  getting  home. 


APPENDIX  III  381 

Hans  Kjntrup-Jensen,  the  factor  at  the  station,  who 
had  urged  upon  me  the  advisability  of  staying  with 
him  until  summer,  and  who  had  assured  me  that  I  was 
not  only  welcome  to  make  his  home  my  own,  but  that 
my  staying  with  him  could  relieve  the  monotony  of  his 
days,  at  once  set  about  making  me  forget  that  I  was 
left  behind,  and  planned  all  sorts  of  diversions  by  which 
the  months  were  to  pass  like  days. 

He  was  a  Danish  cooi>er  who  had  come  to  Greenland 
twenty-three  years  before  in  the  employ  of  the  Royal 
Danish  Trading  Company,  which  holds  a  moriopK)ly  of 
all  Greenland  trade,  and  regulates,  in  large  measure, 
the  affairs  of  the  colony.  He  had  married  an  Eskimo 
woman,  who  died  several  years  ago  and  who  left  him 
with  six  children — three  girls  and  three  boys.  Though 
his  salary  has  never  been  more  than  six  hundred  dollars, 
he  has  sent  two  children  to  Denmark  for  their  educa- 
tion, and  made  a  home  for  the  other  four,  even  after 
the  death  of  their  mother. 

He  is  a  genial,  exuberantly  care-free  fellow,  upon 
whom  the  responsibilities  of  his  f>osition  sit  lightly. 
Like  most  Danes,  he  is  fond  of  ale,  coffee,  and  tobacco, 
and  keeps  a  goodly  supply  of  all  three;  his  fare,  though 
simple,  is  abundant,  and  well  cooked  by  his  Eskimo 
servants.  He  is  generous  and  hospitable  to  a  fault. 
He  rules  the  httle  village  as  despotically  as  a  czar  and 
disj>enses  the  stores  of  his  station  as  profitably  as  he 
can.  Whenever  the  mood  seizes  him  he  gives  a  dance, 
to  which  favored  Eskimos  are  invited  and  at  which  he 
himself  cuts  a  prominent  figure.  He  complains  con- 
tinually of  his  hard  work,  but,  except  for  a  month  or 
so  in  summer  when  he  must  work  at  his  blubber-barrels, 
his  duties  as  factor  require  but  a  few  hours  of  each  day. 


382      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

He  made  my  stay  at  his  home  exceedingly  pleasant  and 
agreeable,  sharing  his  home  with  me  as  if  I  were  a 
member  of  his  family. 

His  house  is  a  little  three-room  cottage,  snug  and 
comfortable,  but  poorly  ventilated.  While  I  stayed 
with  him  I  slept  in  my  sleeping-bag  in  his  workshop, 
where  I  could  get  all  the  fresh  air  I  wanted.  The  cot- 
tage is  banked  up  with  turf  on  all  sides,  so  that  the  fierce 
Arctic  winds  cannot  get  at  it. 

He  keeps  a  retinue  of  six  servants — three  men  to 
hunt  for  him  and  look  after  his  dogs,  and  three  women 
to  cook  for  him,  brew  his  ale,  care  for  his  clothes  and 
children,  and  look  after  the  house. 

To  cook  and  brew  satisfactorily  for  him  is  no  light 
task,  and  I  often  marveled  at  the  patience  and  tact 
that  Pauletta,  his  little,  rotund,  moon-faced  Eskimo 
cook,  displayed  in  the  management  of  her  master  and 
his  household.  From  early  morning  until  late  at  night 
she  was  busy  as  could  be.  We  had  three  regular  meals 
a  day,  besides  luncheons  innumerable.  The  luncheons 
were  almost  invariably  ale,  black  coffee,  and  raisin  cake, 
all  good.  Pauletta  kept  the  coffee-p>ot  boiling  all  day 
long;  three  times  a  week,  at  least,  sometimes  oftener, 
she  baked  rye  bread  and  raisin  cake;  every  two  weeks 
she  brewed  ale;  besides,  she  cooked  all  the  meals  and 
supervised  all  the  activities  of  the  household.  She  was 
really  highly  eflScient,  and  when  the  master  of  the  house 
took  her  to  task  for  some  minor  neglect  of  her^uty 
I  could  not  help  feeling  sorry  for  her. 

Her  little  kitchen  was  always  crowded.  The  chil- 
dren and  many  servants  were  ever  in  her  way.  WTien- 
ever  the  hunters  brought  in  seal,  the  animals  were 
thawed  out  and  skinned,  drawn  and  quartered,  in  the 


APPENDIX  III  S88 

kitchen.  Her  two  assistants  were  usually  not  of  much 
help,  often  a  direct  hindrance.  Few  cooks  have  to 
work  under  such  diflficulties,  yet  Pauletta  was  always 
willing,  always  cheerful,  always  ready  to  help  some 
one  else  at  his  task  in  addition  to  her  own. 

The  children  are  well-behaved.  Three  were  home 
during  my  stay  at  the  house.  One,  the  eldest  of  the 
three,  is  a  pretty  girl,  fifteen  years  of  age,  but  wild  and 
frivolous  as  an  Eskimo,  little  help  in  the  house.  Leo, 
a  spoiled  lad  of  eight  or  nine,  rules  the  household,  even 
his  father,  when  he  chooses.  His  thin  lips,  tight  closed, 
show  how  cruel  and  stern  he  may  become  in  time. 
Esther,  the  baby  of  the  family,  is  a  typical  little  golden- 
haired,  blue-eyed  Danish  lass  as  pretty  as  a  picture  and 
as  girlish  as  if  she  had  not  a  trace  of  Eskimo  blood  in 
her.  In  all  her  ways  and  in  her  temi)erament  and 
character  she  is  Dane  rather  than  Eskimo. 

During  the  five  months  of  my  stay  there  I  was  not 
once  reminded  by  word  or  deed  that  I  was  almost  a 
self-imj)osed  guest  or  that  my  stay  there  made  serious 
inroads  up)on  the  meager  supply  of  Danish  provisions, 
such  as  butter,  sugar,  and  canned  goods,  in  the  larder. 
No  matter  how  trying  the  day,  how  gloomy  the  pros- 
pect, the  entire  household  were  kind  to  me  and  thought- 
ful of  my  comfort. 

I  obtained  a  team  of  eight  dogs  and  bought  a  sledge 
from  my  host.  With  this  equipment  I  was  able  to 
sledge  about  the  colony  whenever  conditions  permitted. 

After  I  had  begun  sledging  I  was  about  home  but 
little.  Most  of  the  time  I  was  out  seal-hunting.  As 
soon  as  the  season  opened  I  set  a  line  of  eight  seal-nets, 
which  I  had  to  visit  every  other  day,  and  two  shark- 
lines  that  I  had  to  attend  carefully.     I  caught  almost 


384       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

twoscore  seals  and  half  a  hundred  sharks  during  the 
season. 

This  catching  seals  in  nets  is  not  practised  by  the 
Eskimos  of  the  Smith  Sound  tribe,  but  in  Danish  Green- 
land the  Eskimos  use  the  method  assiduously  through- 
out the  length  of  the  coast  every  fall  and  spring.  It  is 
practicable  only  when,  at  least  for  part  of  the  day,  not 
enough  light  passes  through  the  ice  to  p>ermit  the  seals 
seeing  the  nets  hanging  downward  into  the  water. 

The  nets  are  about  fifteen  feet  long  and  eight  feet 
wide,  with  a  six-inch  mesh.  They  are  made  of  strong 
twine.  They  are  susjjended  underneath  the  ice,  across 
some  lead  which  the  seals  follow  to  and  fro  to  find 
openings  to  come  up  to  the  surface  to  breathe.  The 
Eskimos  dig  holes  in  the  ice,  through  which  they  hang 
the  nets  at  right  angles  to  the  lead.  To  dig  these  holes 
and  to  keep  them  op>en  requires  considerable  time  and 
work.  Even  the  most  active  and  industrious  of  the 
Eskimos  finds  it  hard  to  care  properly  for  more  than 
sixteen  nets. 

In  the  most  favorable  season  an  Eskimo  often  finds 
half  a  dozen,  or  even  more,  seals  in  his  net  each  day, 
and  then  he  lives  well  indeed,  for  he  uses  the  meat  for 
food  and  exchanges  the  skin  and  blubber  with  the 
trader  for  sugar,  coffee,  oatmeal,  rye  flour,  tobacco, 
cloth,  ammunition,  or  some  of  the  other  commodities 
he  can  obtain.  Often,  however,  unfavorable  ice  con- 
ditions prevail  and  the  catch  of  seals  is  small,  occasioning 
jwverty,  malnutrition,  and  even  starvation.  When,  as 
sometimes  happens,  the  ice  goes  out,  carrying  all  the 
nets  with  it,  the  loss  is  so  heavy  that  the  Eskimos 
incur  debts  to  the  station  to  such  an  extent  that  they 
require  years  to  discharge  them. 


APPENDIX  III  385 

The  shark  fishery  is  an  unusual  industry  and,  to 
a  stranger  in  the  country,  most  interesting.  The  shark 
caught  is  the  sluggish  sleep>er-shark,  of  which  the  liver 
yields  a  fine  oil  much  used  in  illumination.  On  favor- 
able banks  along  the  entire  coast  of  Greenland  the  in- 
dustry is  well  established,  and  thousands  of  pounds  of 
shark-liver  oil  are  obtained  annually.  The  fishery  be- 
gins in  April  and  continues  until  the  ice  goes  out;  even 
afterward  large  numbers  may  be  caught  from  a  boat. 

The  sharks  are  caught  on  large  hooks  suspended 
through  the  ice  on  lines  of  strong  wrapping-twine  long 
enough  to  reach  almost  to  the  bottom.  The  line  seems 
ridiculously  light  to  catch  these  animals,  some  of  which 
measure  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  in  length  and  weigh  over 
a  thousand  pounds.  The  sharks  are  so  sluggish,  how- 
ever, that  they  offer  no  resistance  whatever  to  being 
hauled  up  and  pulled  out  on  the  ice.  To  prevent  the 
sharks  biting  the  line  through  and  escaping,  the  hook 
is  attached  by  a  swivel  directly  to  a  thin  iron  bar,  and 
this  bar  to  a  light  chain  about  ten  feet  long.  The  twine 
is  double  for  about  fifty  feet  of  its  lower  end,  so  that  it 
will  not  so  easily  chafe  in  two  against  submerged  rocks 
or  ledges. 

The  hook  is  baited  with  seal  entrails,  seal  heads,  or 
codfish.  The  shark,  though  sluggish,  is  voracious,  and 
gulps  down  the  whole  bait,  hook,  and  often  part  of  the 
bar.  Not  uncommonly  it  happens  that  when  a  small 
shark  has  been  caught  on  the  hook,  a  larger  one  comes 
along  and  swallows  the  smaller  already  impaled.  When 
the  sharks  are  cut  up  to  take  out  the  hver,  all  kinds  of 
things  are  found  in  their  stomachs — ^pieces  of  seal,  of 
walrus,  strange  fish,  and  even  parts  of  human  beings. 

At  South  Upemavik  the  shark  fishery  is  not  very 


386       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

profitable,  for  the  sharks  are  few  and  small;  but  at 
Proven,  the  neighboring  village  to  the  north,  hundreds, 
even  thousands,  are  caught  each  year.  Generally  the 
liver  is  the  only  part  used.  In  times  of  stress,  however, 
the  meat  is  dried  for  dog  food.  As  dog  food,  shark 
meat  is  not  very  desirable,  for,  unless  it  be  very  care- 
fully dried,  the  dogs  become  intoxicated  after  eating 
it,  and  for  several  hours  are  too  drunk  to  pull  a  sledge. 

In  addition  to  hunting  seals  and  catching  sharks,  I 
went  caribou-hunting  with  Herr  Neilsen,  the  factor  at 
Proven;  twice  went  to  Upernavik  to  pay  my  resi)ects 
to  Governor  Vinterberg  and  to  visit  him  and  his  family 
and  the  rest  of  the  Danes  there;  and  whenever  I  could 
I  went  for  long  drives  along  the  coast.  Because  the 
snowfall  was  unusually  heavy  I  could  do  no  scientific 
work  in  my  own  fields.  At  the  end  of  May  the  snow 
was  still  nearly  ten  feet  deep  in  places,  and  over  five 
feet  deep  on  the  level.  When  I  left  South  Ui>emavik 
in  mid-July,  great  drifts  and  fields  of  snow  lay  scattered 
about  the  mountains  still. 

I  learned  to  like  the  Eskimos  of  the  little  village  very 
much.  Their  lot  is  a  hard  one,  yet  they  are  ever  cheer- 
ful, ever  happy,  and  nearly  always  hoi>eful.  Consump- 
tion is  rampant  among  them,  and  I  think  that  over 
half  the  deaths  are  from  this  dread  disease.  The 
Danish  doctors  are  doing  their  utmost  to  combat  the 
plague,  but  with  little  success,  for  the  conditions  and 
habits  of  living  are  conducive  in  the  extreme  to  "the 
continuance  and  spread  of  the  disease.  The  little  sod- 
walled  houses,  overcrowded,  ill-ventilated,  usually  lighted 
with  only  one  tiny  window,  are  almost  ideal  culture- 
ground  for  the  germ  of  the  disease.  Nothing  is  more 
pathetic  than  to  see  the  little  diseased  children,  some 


APPENDIX  III  387 

with  pulmonary  tuberculosis,  some  with  tuberculosis  of 
the  bones,  nearly  all  with  some  form  or  another,  few  of 
them  with  hope  of  ever  becoming  strong,  well-developed 
men  and  women. 

The  summer  was  half  gone  when  the  ice  began  to  go 
out.  Every  day  we  watched  for  the  ship,  but  it  was 
not  until  mid-July  that  Insi>ector  Lindow  of  Godhavn, 
the  chief  magistrate  of  northern  Greenland,  picked  me 
up  when  he  made  the  rounds  of  his  inspectorate  in  bis 
motor-boat;  and  after  taking  me  on  a  visit  to  Uper- 
navik.  Proven,  and  Nuksuah,  carried  me  to  Godhavn, 
where  I  stayed  with  Manager  Porsild,  director  of  the 
Danish  Arctic  Station.  For  a  month  I  reveled  in 
the  treasuries  of  Herr  Porsild's  splendid  library  and  well- 
equipped  laboratory,  and  of  the  interesting  flora  of  the 
hot  springs  area  near  the  village.  As  everywhere  else 
along  the  coast,  I  found  at  Godhavn  the  exquisite 
courtesy  and  generous  hospitality  that  characterize  the 
Danes  throughout  Greenland.  In  mid-August  I  bade 
good-by  to  the  kind  people  of  the  little  village  and 
steamed  away.  With  the  arrival  of  Captain  Bartlett 
in  the  Neptune  my  stay  in  the  Northland  was  ended. 


APPENDIX  IV 

THE  VISIT  TO  THE  METEORITE 
W.  ELMER   EKBLAW 

Arctic  midnight  was  only  a  week  or  ten  days  past 
when  Mac  told  me  one  evening  to  make  ready  to  go  to 
examine  Rasmussen's  meteorite  on  the  shores  of  Mel- 
ville Bay,  some  two  hundred  miles  from  Etah.  The 
order  came  as  a  surprise  to  me,  for,  though  I  had  wished 
to  see  the  "ironstone"  ever  since  I  had  first  heard  of 
it  from  the  Eskimos,  I  had  felt  that  perhaps  the  prepara- 
tions for  our  imp>ending  dash  for  Crocker  Land  would 
preclude  the  possibility  of  using  time  and  dogs  for  any 
subordinate  purpose.  Hence,  I  was  much  pleased  that 
I  might  go,  for,  after  having  seen  the  great  meteorites 
in  the  American  Museum  of  Natural  History  in  New 
York,  the  great  rusty  blocks  of  iron  brought  home  by 
Peary,  I  was  curious  to  examine  others  "on  their  native 
heath." 

The  Rasmussen  meteorite  had  long  been  sought  by*  the 
Eskimos,  who  knew  by  tradition  that  it  lay  somewhere 
on  Ironside  Mountain;  the  exact  locality  had  been  for- 
gotten since  the  time  its  metal  had  ceased  to  be  one  of 
their  soiuxjes  of  iron  for  knife-blades,  before  the  white 
man  came  with  a  more  abundant  and  more  convenient 


APPENDIX  IV  m 

supply.  They  had  been  incited  to  more  vigorous  search 
by  the  promise  of  a  liberal  reward  to  the  finder  by 
Knud  Rasmussen,  the  Danish  explorer,  who  maintains 
a  trading-station  at  North  Star  Bay. 

Under  the  incentive  of  this  promised  reward,  Kood- 
looktoo,  one  of  Peary's  boys,  had  found  the  great  ingot. 

Our  party  heard  of  the  discovery  of  the  meteorite 
almost  as  soon  as  our  first  visitors  came  to  Borup  Lodge, 
our  headquarters;  and  not  long  after,  Koodlooktoo 
came  himself  to  tell  us  more  of  it.  He  said  that  he  had 
found  it  the  preceding  summer;  while  out  sealing  in 
his  kayak  he  had  landed  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain  to 
hunt  hares,  and  afterward  had  gone  to  the  top  to  look 
for  the  meteorite,  with  unexpected  success.  He  had 
almost  fallen  over  the  stone. 

Koodlooktoo  expected  to  return  about  the  1st  of 
January  to  his  home  on  Cape  Melville,  not  far  from  the 
meteorite,  and,  since  New- Year's  day  was  not  far  off, 
Mac  told  me  to  begin  at  once  getting  my  clothing  and 
equipment  ready  to  accompany  him  when  he  left. 
Because  I  had  been  out  on  two  short  expeditions  across 
Smith  Sound  early  in  December,  my  traveling  equip- 
ment was  almost  complete  and  I  had  learned,  in  a  meas- 
ure, what  to  take  with  me  and  what  to  leave  behind. 

When  the  time  came  to  start.  Jot,  our  cook,  thinking 
that  I  should  need  a  good  square  meal  to  sustain  me 
through  the  first  march,  scrambled  a  big  panful  of  eight 
eider's  eggs  which  I  ate  in  addition  to  my  regular  break- 
fast. Our  party  set  out  soon  after,  but  a  heavy  wind 
off  the  land  at  Cape  Alexander  drove  us  back,  and  we 
waited  until  the  next  day. 

Again  Jot  cooked  a  big  panful  of  eggs  for  me,  again 
we  set  out,  and  again  the  wind  drove  us  back;    three 


S90      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

times  we  repeated  this,  until,  the  fourth  morning,  Jot 
declared  that  he  had  cooked  me  scrambled  eggs  long 
enough,  and  if  I  came  back  again  I  should  have  to 
start  without  them  the  next  time.  He  averred  that  our 
stock  of  eggs  was  not  inexhaustible,  and,  besides,  if  I 
ate  a  few  more  eggs  I  should  be  so  heavy  that  the  dogs 
could  not  pull  my  sledge.  I  could  risk  no  such  event- 
uality, and  on  the  fourth  morning  I  got  off  without 
having  to  turn  back. 

We  sledged  over  the  Cape  Alexander  glacier  to  Nerkre, 
where  we  stopped  to  sleep.  Our  march  had  seemed  very 
short  to  me,  for  we  had  been  a  merry  company;  our  dogs 
were  fresh  and  strong,  the  going  was  good,  and  the  ex- 
perience novel,  to  me  at  least.  Though  not  even  a 
flush  of  light  appeared  on  the  southern  horizon  at  noon- 
day, the  starlight  reflected  from  the  frost-flowers  on  the 
new-frozen  ice  gave  us  light  enough  to  travel  by.  While 
crossing  Smith  Sound  I  had  already  ridden  over  thin, 
rubbery  ice  that  bent  under  the  sledges,  so  I  was  not 
alarmed  when,  south  of  Cape  Alexander,  we  traversed 
several  miles  over  ice  so  springy  that  it  sank  beneath 
the  weight  of  the  foot. 

At  Nerkre  we  were  warmly  welcomed  by  the  whole 
population  of  perhaps  thirty  people.  I  elected  to  stay  in 
Inighito's  big  igloo,  for  Mac,  who  had  been  in  the  vil- 
lage before,  had  told  me  that  Tookey,  Inighito's  wife, 
kept  it  spik-and-span  clean. 

Ajid  so  I  found  it;  as  a  matter  of  fact,  many  igloos 
are  very  clean;  to  quote  Knud  Rasmussen,  "dirt  and 
cleanliness  are  only  relative,  anyway."  Of  course, 
there  are  slovens  among  the  Eskimo  women  as  well  as 
among  those  of  other  peoples,  but  as  a  rule  the  people 
are  cleanly,  when  one  considers  that  water  is  difficult 


APPENDIX  IV  891 

to  obtain  and  soap  and  cloth  are  almost  entirely  wanting. 
A  dirty  igloo  is  about  as  dirty  as  anything  can  be. 

After  a  good  night's  sleep  in  Tookey's  igloo — by  the 
way,  an  igloo  is  always  spoken  of  as  belonging  to  the 
wife,  who  is  supposed  to  govern  within  its  walls — I  set 
out  again.  At  my  earnest  solicitation,  Oobloyah,  one  of 
Peary's  most  efficient  men  in  previous  expeditions,  chose 
to  accompany  me  to  the  meteorite.  He  had  a  big  strong 
team  of  dogs  that  could  easily  take  me  there  and  back. 
We  followed  the  inside  route  into  Inglefield  Gulf  to  the 
mouth  of  Olrik's  Bay,  where  we  crossed  over  the  glacier 
to  the  head  of  Grenville  Bay,  instead  of  going  out  be- 
yond Cape  Parry.  In  one  march  we  sledged  from  Olrik's 
Bay,  over  the  ice-cap,  down  Grenville  Bay,  and  up 
Wolstenholme  Sound,  to  the  Danish  trading-station  at 
North  Star  Bay,  a  distance  of  about  eighty  miles,  in 
a  little  over  twenty-two  hours.  I  think  I  had  never  in 
my  life  been  so  hungry  as  I  was  when  I  got  into  North 
Star  Bay,  though  later  exf>eriences  brought  me  a  great 
deal  nearer  starvation. 

When  we  reached  the  Eskimo  igloos,  Koodlooktoo 
told  me,  in  perfectly  good  English,  that  Rasmussen  had 
just  got  in  from  TJpemavik,  and  since  he  would  probably 
leave  again  that  day  I  ought  to  go  down  to  call  upon 
him  at  once.  Almost  too  tired,  sleepy,  and  hungry  to 
care,  I  waited  until  I  had  had  my  tea  and  walrus  meat 
before  going  across  the  caj>e  to  Rasmussen's  house. 
Time  doesn't  count  for  much  in  Eskimo-land,  especially 
in  winter,  when  it  is  night  all  the  day  long,  anyway, 
so,  though  it  was  ten  o'clock  in  the  morning,  no  one  was 
awake  when  I  got  to  the  station. 

I  entered  the  vestibule  and  knocked  at  the  door  to 
the  room  which  the  Eskimos  told  me  was  Rasmussen's. 


392       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

A  sleepy  "Kanno"  answered  my  knock,  and  when,  in 
resp>onse,  I  threw  open  the  door  and  greeted  him  in 
j>erfectly  good  Swedish,  Rasmussen  could  hardly  believe 
his  ears;  his  eyes  were  too  full  of  sleep  to  detect  any  one 
but  a  rather  large-sized  Eskimo  dressed  in  regular  Eskimo 
costume.  When  finally  he  comprehended  that  his  visitor 
was  a  white  man  he  jumped  out  of  bed,  grasped  my  hand 
with  his  firm,  cordial  clasp,  and  made  me  welcome  in  the 
most  approved  Scandinavian  fashion.  In  a  moment  he 
had  given  orders  to  have  coffee  made;  in  another  mo- 
ment or  two  it  was  done,  and  while  we  sipp>ed  the  hot, 
strong,  black  coffee  such  as  a  Scandinavian  loves,  our 
tongues  wagged  so  fast  that  the  Eskimos  later  said  they 
had  never  heard  the  like. 

Both  of  us  were  pleased  to  meet  each  other,  both  of 
us  were  excited,  and  both  of  us  had  a  thousand  eager 
questions  to  ask.  When  I  told  him  the  object  of  my 
journey  he  at  once  suggested  that  I  stay  with  him  two 
or  three  days,  that  his  dogs  might  rest  a  little  from  their 
long  trip  up  from  Danish  Greenland,  and  he  would 
accompany  me  when  I  set  out  again.  Nothing  loath  to 
accept  such  boon  companionship,  I  promptly  decided 
to  fall  in  with  his  suggestion,  all  the  more  willingly  since 
my  own  Eskimos  seemed  reluctant  to  proceed  at  once. 

The  days  at  the  station  passed  pleasantly  and  all  too 
quickly.  We  ate  and  talked,  and  talked  and  ate,  and 
then  repeated.  I  never  drank  such  good  coffee  or  ate 
such  fine  bear  steak  as  I  got  there  every  few  hours. 
Hendrik  Olsen,  Rasmussen's  all-round  handy  man,  was 
an  exf)ert  at  making  coffee,  and  proud  and  pleased  at 
my  telling  him  so,  he  kept  the  coffee-pot  going  most  of 
the  time.  In  the  few  hours  when  I  was  not  talking  or 
eating  or  sleeping  I  browsed  over  Rasmussen's  well- 


APPENDIX  IV  393 

stocked  library.  I  found  time  to  reread  most  of  Byron's 
"Don  Juan"  and  Kipling's  Jungle  Tales.  Rasmussen  is 
an  omnivorous  reader,  his  favorite  sledge-companion 
being  Xenophon's  Anabasis,  in  the  original  Greek. 
When  we  set  out  together  for  the  meteorite,  he  put 
this  volume  in  his  sledge-bag, '  while  I  carried  with  me 
a  copy  of  Tegner's  Fridtjofs  Saga. 

We  left  North  Star  Bay  with  a  dash.  Rasmussen, 
with  some  Eskimo  blood  in  his  veins,  and  reared  to 
adolescence  in  Danish  Greenland,  is  a  born  dog-driver, 
and  with  his  eight  big  husky  dogs  he  led  the  way.  We 
sped  along  rapidly  over  the  firm,  smooth  ice,  and  in  the 
course  of  about  eight  hours  reached  the  bear-cave  near 
Petowik  glacier,  where  we  stopped  for  rest  and  coffee. 
The  bear-cave  is  a  historical  place  among  the  Eskimos, 
a  kind  of  half-way  station  between  Akpan  and  Oomenak 
— that  is,  between  Conical  Rock  and  North  Star  Bay. 
All  kinds  of  adventures  are  related  as  having  hapi>ened 
there  in  days  gone  by,  and  when  I  entered  in  through 
the  low,  dark  passage  I  did  not  wonder  that  the  Eskimos 
regarded  the  cave  with  considerable  superstition,  that  it 
occupied  a  prominent  place  in  their  legends  and  tradi- 
tions. They  keep  a  stone  lamp,  moss  for  wick,  blubber 
for  oil,  and  other  conveniences  for  those  who  stop  there 
when  traveling. 

From  the  bear-cave  to  Akpan,  where  we  stopped  at 
Koolootingwa's  igloo,  seemed  a  short  ride  indeed.  Be- 
cause Koolootingwa  and  his  family  lived  alone  here,  his 
one  igloo  furnished  shelter  for  his  household,  our  party 
of  half  a  dozen,  and  another  party  who  had  come  in 
from  the  east,  a  total  of  nineteen  people.  When  the 
time  came  to  sleep  we  packed  together  like  a  big  litter 
of  kittens.     Koolootingwa  maintained  his  reputation  as 


394       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

one  of  the  most  successful  hunters  of  the  tribe,  for  he 
brought  forth  a  large  supply  of  bear  meat,  walrus,  seal, 
birds,  narwhal  blubber,  and  all  the  other  delicacies  of 
the  Eskimo  larder,  on  which  we  gorged  ourselves  to 
maintain  our  reputations  as  successful  eaters.  I  made 
rapid  progress  in  adapting  myself  to  the  food  of  the 
land,  for  the  morning  of  our  departure  I  managed  to 
make  away  with  a  piece  of  blubber  at  least  five  pounds 
in  weight;  by  so  doing  I  won  the  approbation  of  all 
present,  including  Rasmussen. 

Another  long  march  from  Akpan  to  Savikseevik,  with 
a  brief  visit  at  the  settlement  on  Cape  York,  brought 
us  to  the  village  nearest  the  meteorite.  Savikseevik  is 
a  village  of  three  igloos,  not  far  from  the  place  where 
Peary  obtained  the  largest  of  his  meteorites;  the  name 
means  in  Eskimo  "the  place  where  the  ironstone  is 
missing."  We  rested  from  the  afternoon  of  one  day  until 
the  forenoon  of  the  next  before  going  to  the  Rasmussen 
meteorite. 

The  drivers  of  Savikseevik  took  us  to  Ironstone 
Mountain.  The  way  thither  led  over  snow-drifted, 
hummocky,  old  ice  that  had  lain  in  the  bay  for  a  number 
of  years;  bear  tracks,  old  and  fresh,  formed  a  veritable 
network  over  the  whole  expanse,  but  we  saw  none  of 
the  monarchs  of  the  ice-fields.  We  reached  the  foot  of 
the  niountain  just  at  noonday.  We  tied  our  dogs  secure- 
ly to  the  ice-foot  and  started  up  the  steep  slope. 

We  tramped  about  a  mile  and  a  half  or  two  milei  be- 
fore we  came  to  the  mountain-top  upon  which  the 
meteorite  lay.  The  Eskimos  soon  found  the  pillar-like 
boulder  of  white  gneiss  that  Koodlooktoo  had  set  up  to 
mark  the  meteorite;  the  meteorite  itself,  a  large  rusty 
block  of  nickel-iron  alloy,  was  buried  deep  under  the 


APPENDIX  IV  395 

snow.  We  had  carried  with  us  a  shovel  to  clear  away 
the  snow,  a  lantern  to  light  us  at  our  work,  a  Primus 
stove  and  kerosene  with  which  to  make  coffee,  and  tools 
to  cut  off  a  sample  of  the  iron.  While  the  Eskimos  built 
a  little  shelter  of  snow  blocks  to  protect  us  from  the 
piercing  wind  and  made  a  pot  of  hot  coffee,  Rasmussen 
and  I  uncovered  the  meteorite  and  measured  it.  When 
we  tried  to  get  some  samples  of  the  meteorite  we  found 
our  efforts  almost  futile,  for  in  the  intense  cold — the 
thermometer  registered  52°  F.  below  zero — our  chisels 
and  hacksaws  and  hammers  all  broke  against  the  chill 
iron,  which,  though  soft,  was  tough.  Only  by  using  the 
heavy  sledge-hammer  could  we  finally  obtain  even  .a 
small  sample.  We  collected,  also,  a  number  of  sharp- 
edged  slabs  of  basalt  that  the  Eskimos  had  used  in 
former  generations  to  cut  off  the  little  flakes  of  iron  that 
they  made  into  their  little  serrated  knife-blades. 

I  shall  not  soon  forget  the  scene  of  our  labors  that 
day.  The  sky  was  clear  as  only  far  Arctic  skies  can  be, 
thick-set  with  the  thousands  of  brilliant  stars.  In  the 
north  a  full  moon  shone  over  the  lonely  far-reaching 
Greenland  ice-cap,  and  Saturn,  in  alignment  with  the 
heavenly  twins.  Castor  and  Pollux,  raced  toward  the  fair 
realms  of  the  wonderful  Hyades. 

To  the  south  lay  the  iceberg-studded  fields  of  Melville 
Bay,  gleaming  white  in  the  bright  moonlight.  The  black 
cliffs  of  Cape  Melville  loomed  dark  on  the  far  eastern 
horizon,  and  to  the  west  the  forbidding  walls  of  Bush- 
man Island  rose  stem  and  grim. 

It  was  a  passing  unusual  scene,  unique  in  the  annals 
of  the  North,  an  adventure  worthy  of  a  saga,  this  our 
visit  to  the  mighty,  lost  hammer  of  old  discarded  Thor. 
Scandinavians  both,  though  one  came  from  the  Old 

26 


396       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

World  and  one  from  the  New,  we  felt  a  like  interest  in 
this  massive  ingot  forged  in  interstellar  space,  which  we 
fancied  had  perhaps  been  flung  from  Valhalla  before  the 
days  of  iconoclastic  science.  As  we  were  deeply  en- 
gaged in  our  discussion  on  the  possible  origin  of  this 
vagrant  planetesimal  the  coflFee-pot  boiled  over;  with 
little  regret  our  thoughts  swung  back  from  the  realms 
of  celestial  speculation  where  they  had  been  wandering, 
to  mundane  reality. 

We  had  visited  the  meteorite. 


APPENDIX  V 

THE  VEGETATION  ABOUT   BORUP   LODGE 
W.  ELMER   EKBLAW 

That  such  a  relatively  luxuriant  vegetation  as  that 
which  is  found  about  our  headquarters  in  Northwest 
Greenland  can  grow  so  near  the  Pole  surprises  and  in- 
terests most  people  who  learn  of  the  green  patches  of 
dandelion,  the  smiling  fields  of  golden  poppies,  and  the 
verdant  sloj>es  of  lush  blue-grass,  flourishing  almost  a 
thousand  miles  within  the  Arctic  circle.  That  mush- 
rooms as  wide  as  dinner-plates  and  as  delicious  as  our 
meadow  mushrooms;  that  ferns  as  dainty  and  as  beau- 
tiful as  those  of  our  mountain  woods;  that  buttercups 
as  bright  and  glistening  as  those  of  our  prairie  stream- 
banks;  that  bluebells  and  rhododendron  and  heather 
and  many  others — all  find  in  the  continuous  sunshine  of 
the  Arctic  summer  suflScient  heat  and  light  not  only  to 
grow,  but  to  thrive,  and  to  reproduce  themselves, 
amazes  almost  every  one  but  the  professional  botanist. 

True,  it  is  only  in  favorable  spots  that  all  these 
plants  grow,  but,  even  so,  there  are  few  areas  so  rocky, 
or  so  cold,  or  so  wind-swept,  that  not  any  plants  can 
find  a  place  for  themselves.  If  nothing  else  grows,  the 
lichens,  at  least,  are  sure  to  cover  the  rocks.     But  almost 


398       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

everywhere  some  of  the  hardier  flowers  or  grasses  ap- 
pear, sometimes  dwarfed,  it  is  true,  but  vigorous,  for 
all  that. 

Within  the  limits  of  Northwest  Greenland — that  is, 
between  the  great  glaciers  of  Melville  Bay  on  the  south 
and  the  Humboldt  Glacier  on  the  north — I  collected 
over  one  hundred  and  twenty-five  species  of  vascular 
plants.  A  number  of  these  had  before  been  recorded 
from  this  area,  and  one  had  not  before  been  found  in 
Greenland.  This  last,  Androsace  septentrionalis,  a  deli- 
cate, inconspicuous  little  flower,  I  found  growing  on  a 
gravel  sloi>e  within  a  hundred  yards  of  Borup  Lodge. 
The  mushrooms  are  not  numerous,  but  the  lichens  are 
legion. 

The  forests  of  that  far  Northland  do  not  appreciably 
obstruct  the  view,  nor  does  the  shrubbery  afford  much 
cover.  The  biggest  trees  do  not  rise  more  than  three 
inches  above  the  rocks  on  which  they  grow,  even  though 
their  branches  may  spread  over  a  square  yard  of  sur- 
face, and  the  biggest  shrub  grows  hardly  so  large  as  a 
croquet  ball.  The  commoner  trees  are  the  Arctic  willow 
(Salix  arctica),  the  little  two-  or  three-leaved  willow 
(Salix  herbacea),  and  the  tiny  dwarf  birch  (Betula  nana). 
In  fact,  there  are  no  others.  Some  of  the  Arctic  willow, 
though  over  fifty  years  old,  have  a  stem  no  thicker  than 
my  little  finger.  Salix  herbacea  is  tiny  indeed,  rarelv 
more  than  a  half -inch  high. 

Of  shrubs  the  most  interesting  is  the  Lapland  rlTodo- 
dendron  {Rhododendron  lapponicun).  On  a  few  shel- 
tered slopes,  where  the  sun  shines  warm  and  the  snow 
does  not  lie  too  long,  this  little  bush  blooms  profusely, 
its  tiny  twigs  set  with  numerous  little  rose-purple  blos- 
soms scarcely  a  quarter  of  an  inch  wide.     Two  species 


APPENDIX  V  399 

of  cranberry  {Myrtillus  uliginosa  and  Vaccinium  viti- 
sidcBo)  neither  fruiting  except  in  unusually  favorable 
seasons,  grow  in  the  area,  though  the  latter  is  rare. 
The  curlew-berry  (Empetrum  nigrum)  blooms  on  sunny 
heaths  in  some  deep  fjords,  but  rarely  sets  fruit. 

The  trees  and  shrubs,  if  they  may  be  called  such,  are 
generally  found  on  the  Arctic  heaths,  where  they  asso- 
ciate with  other  plants  partial  to  warm,  sunny  slopes. 
The  golden  northern  arnica  (Arnica  alpina),  so  like  a 
diminutive  sunflower  in  its  habits  and  appearance;  the 
woolly  catspaw  {Antennaria  alpina),  for  all  the  world 
resembling  its  cousins  of  the  Southland;  the  tiny  Arctic 
bluebell  {Campanula  unijlora),  dainty  and  gentian  blue; 
the  delicate  pink-and- white  shinleaf  (Pyrola  rotundifolia) ; 
and  the  pretty  dark-purple  grass  {Trisetum  spicatum), 
are  conspicuous  members  of  this  heath-forming  group, 
of  which  the  creamy  white  bell-flowered  andromeda 
{Cassiope  tetragona)  is  the  characteristic  flower. 

The  cress  family  is  represented  by  sixteen  species,  of 
which  the  most  are  white-flowered:  one  of  the  excep- 
tions is  the  purple  rocket  (Hesperis  pallasii)  fragrant  with 
the  odor  of  wild  plum  blossoms,  the  only  really  fragrant 
flower  about  Etah.  The  rose  family  is  represented  by 
six  or  seven  species;  one  of  them,  Dry  as  integrifolia,  is 
perhaps  the  commonest  flower  in  all  the  North,  because 
its  starry  white  blossom  is  found  nearly  everywhere  and 
during  the  whole  summer  season.  The  rest  of  the  rose 
family  are  the  cinquefoils  (Potentilke) ,  of  which  Vahl's 
{Potentilla  vahliana)  forms  golden  carj>ets  on  some  of 
the  sunnier,  drier,  morainal  slop>es.  Ten  saxifrages  find 
a  home  in  the  environs  of  Etah,  and  of  these  the  pur- 
ple saxifrage  {Saxifrage  oppositifolia)  is  generally  the  ear- 
liest of  all  the  Arctic  flowers  to  open  into  blossom.    As 


400       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

soon  as  the  snow  melts  to  leave  a  sp>ot  of  rock  or  soil  ex- 
posed, the  purple  saxifrage  bursts  into  bloom.  It  is  no 
uncommon  sight  to  see  a  pennant  of  its  pure  purple 
flashing  between  great  drifts  of  snow. 

The  dandelions  about  our  lodge  at  Etah  are  note- 
worthy. In  addition  to  several  species  of  the  yellow, 
a  delicate  form  {Taraxacum  arctogenum) ,  white  with 
pink  border,  known  from  no  other  place  in  the  world, 
grows  luxuriant.  Other  compositse  that  are  not  uncom- 
mon were  Erigeron  uniflouns  and  E.  composituSy  two 
very  pretty  plants  especially  fond  of  warm  gravelly 
slopes. 

The  brightest,  bravest  flower  of  all  the  Northland  is 
the  cheery  Arctic  p>oppy  (Papaver  radicatum) .  Up  to 
the  farthest  north  point  of  land  yet  attained,  this  sturdy 
flower  maintains  itself  against  the  snow  and  ice;  no 
coast  is  too  desolate,  no  mountain  too  bleak,  to  sustain 
it;  the  coldest  winds,  the  fiercest  snows,  do  not  daunt 
it.  It  grows  in  profusion  on  the  delta  about  our  lodge, 
and  on  the  stream-side  meadows  back  in  the  mountains 
whole  fields  blaze  throughout  the  summer.  The  i>oppy 
should  be  the  national  flower  of  Eskimo-land,  the  land 
of  Ultima  Thule! 

Grasses  grow  in  abundance.  The  characteristic  grass 
of  the  slopes  where  the  dovekie  nests,  and  of  other  fer- 
tile places,  is  the  so-called  Arctic  timothy  (Alopecurus 
alpinus)  that  plays  so  imjwrtant  a  part  in  the  domestic 
economy  of  the  Eskimo — as  padding  between  stocking 
and  boot,  as  mattress  under  the  skins  on  the  bed  plat- 
form, and  as  dish-cloth  and  towel  in  lieu  of  anything 
else  to  use  for  the  purpose.  Numerous  blue-grasses  grow 
in  Greenland,  but  about  Etah  one  of  the  commonest 
forms  is  the  plain,  ordinary,  garden  variety  of  Kentucky 


ARCTIC  POPPY  (PAPAVEB  RADICATUM)  AND  ARNICA  (aRNICA  ALPINA) 


APPENDIX  V  401 

blue  grass  (Poapratensii),  as  lush  as  in  the  pasture  about 
Lexington.  The  grasses  cannot  be  left  without  mention 
•f  the  beautiful  little  monotypie  genus  Pleuropogon 
»abin0i,  growing  in  shallow  p)ools  among  th«  rocks,  its 
tiny  heads  flung  out  like  little  rosy  flags. 

And  besides  these  there  are  downy,  white,  cotton- 
grass  (Eriophorum  polystachium  and  E.  scheuchzeri)  and 
reeds  (Juncus  and  Luzula)  about  every  pool  and  along 
every  swale;  sedges  (Carex),  at  least  twelve  si>ecies, 
some  on  dry  hills,  some  along  the  salt  seashore,  some 
in  wet  pools — everywhere,  in  fact;  club-moss  {Ly co- 
podium  selago),  not  common,  but  widely  scattered;  and 
scouring-rush  (Equisetum  arvense  and  E.  variegaium), 
not  so  large  as  of  our  land,  but  still  typical  of  the 
genus. 

Four  ferns  grow  on  the  rock  ledges.  Aspidium 
fragrans,  a  sweet-smelling  fern  of  drier  ledges,  is  com- 
mon on  the  sunny  terraces  just  above  Borup  Lodge. 
Cystopteris  fragilis  is  the  commonest  fern  throughout 
Northwest  Greenland.  It  grows  most  abundant  and 
luxuriant  in  moist  crevices  on  steep  cliffs.  Woodsia- 
glahella  is  a  Lilliputian  fern,  not  an  inch  high,  and 
Woodsia  ilvensis  is  not  much  larger. 

As  soon  as  the  snow  begins  to  melt,  the  plants  begin 
to  blossom.  The  first  flowers  at  Etah  usually  oi>en  a 
few  days  before  the  1st  of  June,  a  month  and  a  half  after 
the  midnight  sun  has  begun.  Some  sp>ecies  are  often 
retarded  by  the  heavy  summer  snows,  so  that  they  hard- 
ly have  time  to  blossom  at  all,  for  the  killing  frosts  begin 
to  come  about  two  weeks  before  the  last  midnight  sun. 
Even  before  the  1st  of  August  the  autumnal  yellows  and 
tans  and  browns  come,  and  growth  is  at  an  end.  The 
season  of  life  is  brief,  indeed,  but  under  the  daily  bright 


402       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

twenty-four-hour  sun  the  Arctic  plants,  nearly  all  like 
those  of  our  early  spring,  come  to  rapid  maturity. 

Though  all  these  plants  grow  rather  luxuriantly  about 
our  lodge,  they  scarcely  begin  to  hide  the  nakedness  of 
the  rugged  slopes  and  rocky  cliffs  and  plateaus;  yet  to 
us  who  lived  among  them  for  four  years  they  are  as 
beautiful  and  dear  as  our  trees  and  shrubs  and  grasses 
and  flowers  of  the  Southland.  They  grow  bravely  in  the 
face  of  almost  imp)ossible  conditions,  courageous  guar- 
dians of  life  in  the  cold,  killing  North. 


APPENDIX  VI 

ORNITHOLOGY 
D.    B.    MACMILLAN 

Gavia  immer.  Loon.  Great  Northern  Diver.  Rarely 
seen  in  vicinity  of  Etah,  Recognized  by  three  members 
of  the  expedition  on  July  7,  1914.  No  specimens  or  eggs 
secured. 

Gavia  stellata.  Red-throated  loon.  Wabby.  Cobble. 
Eskimo  name,  Kak-sau.  Common.  Found  breeding  in 
lakes  on  northern  shores  of  Grant  Land  at  82°  30'  N. 
Fratercula  arctica  naumanni.  Large-billed  puffin.  I  have 
never  seen  this  bird  north  of  Cape  Hatherton,  78°  30'. 
Breeds  upon  Hakluyt  Island,  77°  30'. 
Cepphus  mandti.  Mandt's  guillemot.  Sea-pigeon.  Eski- 
mo name,  Silgh-wha.  Very  common.  Breeds  from  Cape 
York,  76°  N.,  to  Cape  Union,  82°  18'  N.  Nests  in 
cracks  of  cliflFs  from  water  edge  to  height  of  800  feet. 
Eggs,  1-2.  June  10th.  Etah.  Young  in  water  August 
10th.  Seen  every  month  in  the  year  in  open  water  be- 
tween 76°  and  78°  45'  N.  Ten  were  seen  by  my  party 
when  crossing  Smith  Sound  on  February  14,  1914,  when 
the  temperature  was  — 54°  F. 

Uria  lomvia  lomvia.  Brunnich's  murre.  Eskimo  name. 
Ark-pa.  Large  numbers  off  Etah  June,  July,  and  August. 
I  do  not  know  of  this  bird  breeding  north  of  Hakluyt 
Island,  77°  30'.  Reported  by  Bessels  north  of  81°  as 
"quite  abundant  and  nestinf." 


404      FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

6.  AUe  alle.  Dovekie.  Sea-dove.  Little  auk.  Bull-bird. 
Ice-bird.  Rotge.  Rotchie.  Rotch.  Sea  King.  Eskimo 
name,  Arq-pud-e-arq.  Breeds  from  68°  N.  to  Anoritok, 
78°  40'  N.  Arrives  Etah  May  15th.  Nests  in  crevices 
of  sea  cliffs  in  company  with  guillemots,  in  the  rock  debris 
at  base  of  a  cliff,  or  on  slope  bordering  the  sea,  bay,  lake, 
or  river-bed;  even  found  inland  at  distance  of  a  mile 
and  at  height  of  1,000  feet.  Eggs,  1,  weight  one  ounce. 
Date,  June  18th.  Two  eggs  occasionally  found  in  nest. 
That  these  are  not  the  eggs  of  two  birds  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  two  well-developed  eggs  are  often  found  in  the 
body  of  a  bird.  Young  obtained  from  nest  July  21st. 
Seen  swimming  August  14th.  Average  weight,  5.2  oz. 
Nests  among  rocks  of  talus  consisting  of  pebbles  and  few 
bits  of  dried  grass. 

7.  Stercorarins  parasiticus.  Parasitic  jaeger.  Bosun-bird. 
Teaser.  Jiddy  hawk.  Skua  gull.  Eskimo  name,  E-shing- 
wa.  I  saw  this  species  when  sledging  along  eastern  shore 
of  Grant  Land  in  latitude  82°  N.  The  swift  and  very 
bold  attack  led  to  the  discovery  of  one  nest  containing 
two  eggs,  distant  some  twenty  yards  from  the  ice-foot. 
The  nest  was  simply  a  slight  depression  in  a  dark-reddish 
gravelly  soil. 

8.  Stercorarius  longicavdus.  Long-tailed  jaeger.  Buffon's 
skua.    Very  common  at  Etah  and  as  far  north  as  83°. 

9.  Pagophila  alba.  Ivory  gull.  Ice-partridge.  Eskimo 
name,  Now-ya-wah-o.  Very  common  in  Smith  Sound 
and  as  far  north  as  82°  30'.  Fully  formed  egg  obtained 
from  body  of  bird  June  30,  1914.  Breeds  on  cliffs  on 
eastern  side  of  Kennedy  Channel  from  79°  to  80°  -N. 
Feeds  largely  upon  the  excrement  of  seals  and  walrus. 
I  have  never  seen  this  bird  in  the  water.  Whenever  we 
cut  up  walrus  upon  the  drift  ice  of  Smith  Sound  the  ivory 
gull  appeared,  and,  alighting  within  a  few  yards,  awaited 
patiently  for  its  share  of  the  meat.     The  young  were  seen 


APPENDIX  VI  405 

in  September  with  dark  markings  on  breast  and  upon  tail 
feathers. 

10.  Rissa  tridactyla  tridaciyla.  Kittiwake.  Eskimo  name, 
Tah-tah-ra.  Common  as  far  north  as  82°  30'.  Breeds 
at  numerous  localities  in  Smith  Sound,  but  not  north  of 
Etah,  78°  20'.  Associated  with  the  kittiwake,  there  is  a 
peculiar  custom  among  the  Smith  Sound  Eskimos.  In 
former  years  the  head  of  this  bird  was  sewn  into  the 
clothes  of  a  female  child.  Worn  as  an  amulet,  it  would 
insure  giving  birth  to  small  children,  as  the  egg  of  the 
bird  is  small  in  proportion  to  its  size. 

11.  Larushyperboreus.  Glaucous  gull.  Burgomaster.  Eskimo 
name,  Now-ya.  Most  common  gull  in  Smith  Sound. 
Breeds  on  cliffs  throughout  whole  extent  of  coast-line  from 
Cape  York,  76°  N.,  to  82°  30'  N.  Arrived  at  Etah  May 
10th,  1914;  May  7,  1915;  May  13,  1916;  May  15,  1917. 
Upon  ledges  and  islands,  where  in  general  there  is  need  of 
no  protection  from  foxes,  nests  are  placed  among  those  of 
eider  ducks  and  easily  accessible.  Upon  the  mainland  we 
find  them  upon  cliffs,  often  inaccessible,  to  the  height  of 
1,000  feet.  The  tops  of  isolated  or  outstanding  pillars, 
sometimes  called  "chimney  rocks,"  are  always  preferred 
to  narrow  ledges.  In  nests  are  sometimes  found  one 
brant  or  one  eider  duck's  egg.  Old  nests  are  remade  by 
being  pulled  apart  and  new  material  added,  such  as  grass 
and  moss.  Time  of  laying  depends  much  upon  snowfall 
and  dry  condition  of  nest.  I  found  eggs  hatching  on  July 
1st  at  Etah.  Ten  feet  away  there  was  a  nest  containing 
eggs  perfectly  fresh.     Eggs,  2-S.     June  8,  1917. 

Young  leave  nest  August  18th-Slst.  Old  birds  leave 
Etah  and  vicinity  about  September  1st.  Young  congre- 
gate and  remain  feeding  at  mouth  of  streams  until  October 
31st.  The  glaucous  gulls  feed  upon  dovekies,  eider  eggs, 
young  eiders,  lemming,  sculpin,  and  trout.  Dovekies,  or 
little  auks,  are  often  seized  in  mid-air  and  swallowed  whole 


406       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

into  the  lower  throat.  Here  the  bird  remains  until  the 
flesh  is  digested.  The  pellet,  consisting  of  head,  feet, 
wings,  and  skin  entire,  is  disgorged. 

Weight  of  glaucous  gull,  4  lbs.  Stretch  of  wings,  5  ft. 
3  in.     Weight  of  egg,  4  oz. 

12.  Larus  argentatus.  Herring  gull.  Not  seen  north  of  Etah. 
Most  northern  breeding-place,  Ittibloo,  in  Whale  Sound, 
77°  25'  N. 

13.  Xema  sabini.  Sabin's  gull.  I  saw  and  shot  this  bird  on 
the  northern  shore  of  Grant  Land  on  July  8,  1909.  Lat. 
82°  30'  N.  Fairly  common  at  Etah.  No  nests  or  eggs 
discovered.  Found  nesting  in  Northeast  Greenland  by 
Danmark  Expedition.     Eggs,  2. 

14.  Sterna  paradisoBa.  Arctic  tern.  Sea-swallow.  Eskimo 
name,  E-muck-ko-tail-ya. 

I  found  this  species  nesting  on  the  northern  shore  of 
Grant  Land  on  July  7,  1909.  Lat.  82°  33'  N.  Nest  con- 
tained one  egg.  Very  common  in  vicinity  of  Etah;  flocks 
continually  passing  north  and  south.  Breeds  extensively 
at  head  of  Inglefield  Gulf  and  at  North  Star  Bay. 

15.  Fulmarus  glacialis  glacialis.  Fulmar.  Molly.  MoUimoke. 
Mallemuke.  Noddy.  John  Down.  The  light  and  dark 
phases  of  this  bird  are  both  very  common  at  Etah,  es- 
pecially in  September.  Breeds  from  69°  N.  to  76°  35'  N. 
Seen  frequently  at  winter  quarters  of  S.S.  RooseveU  at 
82°  30'  in  July,  1909.  From  a  rest  upon  the  water  this 
bird  spreads  its  wings  and  dives  wholly  beneath  the  sur- 
face to  grasp  food. 

16.  Nettion  carolinense.  Green-winged  teal.  One  pair  only 
were  seen  and  obtained  by  us  during  our  four  years.  That 
this  was  an  uncommon  visitor  was  plainly  evident  by  the 
exclamations  of  surprise  of  our  Eskimos,  most  of  whom 
had  never  seen  the  bird  before. 

17.  Harelda  hyemalis.  Old  squaw.  Long-tailed  duck.  South 
southerly.     Hounds.     Old  Injun.     Eskimo  name,  Ugley. 


APPENDIX  VI  407 

Very  common  as  far  north  as  82"  30'.  Arrives  at  Etah 
about  May  25th.  Found  nesting  near  Etah  and  also  by 
me  at  Mushroom  Point  on  northern  shore  of  Grant  Land 
on  June  28,  1909.     Nest  contained  five  eggs. 

18.  Somateria  mollissima  horealis.  Northern  eider.  Sea-duck* 
Eskimo  name,  Mee-tik.  Very  common.  Arrives  at  Etah 
about  May  1st.  Departs  November  1st.  Female  breed- 
ing-note, Kak-kak-kah-kah — koo-6w;  male,  Ah-6o — ah-6o 
— koo-k6o — ^koo-6o.  Weight,  33^  lbs.  Weight  of  egg, 
33^  oz.  Eggs,  5-9.  Found  as  early  as  June  10th.  Eggs 
often  found  in  nest  of  brant  and  also  in  nest  of  glaucous 
gull.  On  September  6th  the  young  were  beginning  to  fly. 
Weight,  2.8  lbs.  Six  thousand  eggs  are  often  gathered  in 
a  few  hours  from  one  small  island.  Eggs  vary  in  length 
from  2.75  in.  to  3.25  in.;  in  breadth  from  1.90  to  2.15. 
Breeds  on  the  islands  of  the  Greenland  and  EUesmere 
coast  as  far  north  as  81°  40'.  Seen  repeatedly  at  Cape 
Sheridan,  82°  30'  N. 

19.  Somateria  spectabilis.  King  eider.  The  king  eider  arrived 
at  Etah  with  the  northern  eider  and  associated  with  it 
throughout  the  season.  The  females  of  these  two  species 
so  resemble  each  other  that  I  was  never  able  positively  to 
identify  the  nest  and  eggs  of  the  king  eider.  It  is  found 
wherever  the  northern  eider  is  found,  from  the  southern 
shores  of  Greenland  to  the  northern  shores  of  Grant 
Land. 

20.  Chen  hyperboreus  nivalis.  Greater  snow-goose.  A  flock 
of  ten  arrived  at  Etah  June  10, 1917.  After  circling  around 
the  fiord  they  flew  over  the  hills  northward.  Often  seen 
at  Anoritok  along  shore  and  at  lakes  one  mile  inland. 
Nest  not  found. 

21.  Branta  bernicla  glaucogastra.  Brant.  Eskimo  name,  Nug- 
luq.  Arrived  at  Etah  about  June  1st.  Nests  on  Little- 
ton, Sutherland,  and  Eider  Duck  Islands.  Eggs,  4-6. 
Date,  June  14th-20th.     Young  were  found  hatching  at 


408       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

Sutherland  Island  on  July  13,  1916.  Brant  were  molting 
on  this  date.  Nest  similar  in  construction  to  that  of  eider 
duck,  with  the  exception  of  the  down,  which  is  a  shade 
lighter  in  color.  Were  seen  flying  along  northern  shores 
of  Grant  Land  in  June,  1909. 

22.  Phalaropus  fulicarius.  Red  phalarope.  Sea-goose.  Bank- 
bird.  Whale-bird.  Common  throughout  the  Smith  Sound 
region.  Seen  as  far  north  as  82°  30'.  Found  breeding 
at  life  Boat  Cove.     Eggs,  3.    Date,  June  27,  1916. 

23.  Tringa  canutus.  Knot.  The  robin  snipe.  Beach  robin. 
Gray-back.  Red-breasted  sandpiper.  Ash-colored  sand- 
piper. Eskimo  name,  Ting-may-t6e-a.  Very  common  on 
eastern  and  western  shores  of  Smith  Sound  as  far  north 
as  82°  30'.  Two  nests  containing  three  eggs  each  found 
by  Peary  Polar  Expedition  on  July  1,  1909,  at  Cape  Sheri- 
dan. Two  nests  of  three  and  four  eggs  found  by  Crocker 
Land  Expedition  at  North  Star  Bay  in  Jime,  1917.  Nest 
a  slight  depression  in  soil  on  rolling  ground  about  one 
mile  from  the  sea. 

24.  Arquatella  maritima  maritima.  Purple  sandpiper.  Rock- 
weed-bird.  Rock  snipe.  Often  seen  in  spring  and  fall  at 
Etah,  but  apparently  did  not  nest  in  vicinity.  A  frequent 
visitor  at  Cape  Sheridan. 

25.  Pisobia  hairdi.  Baird's  sandpiper.  Found  nesting  at  Life 
Boat  Cove,  July  1,  1916.  Also  at  Rensselaer  Harbor, 
June  28,  1916.  Eggs,  3.  Young  seen  around  shores  at 
Etah  on  September  2,  1916. 

26.  Mgialitis  hiaiicula.  ■  The  Ringed  plover.  This  Old-world 
species  was  very  common  on  hills  bordering  the  sloping 
shores  from  Life  Boat  Cove  to  Cape  Hatherton.  Nest,  a 
slight  depression  in  gravelly  soil  lined  with  small  pebbles. 
Eggs,  3.     Date,  June  30,  1916. 

27.  Arenaria  interpres  interpres.  Turnstone.  Calico-back. 
Chicken  plover.  Rock-plover.  Brant-bird.  Checkered 
snipe.    Red-legged  plover.     Very  common  at  Etah  from 


APPENDIX  VI  409 

June  1st  to  September  1st.  Common  at  Lady  Franklin 
Bay  in  August,  1901.  Was  interested  in  seeing  a  large 
flock  alight  upon  the  water  in  Kennedy  Channel.  Seen 
frequently  along  northern  shores  of  Grant  Land  in  June, 
1909. 

28.  Lagopus  rupestris  reinhardi.  Reinhardt's  ptarmigan. 
Eskimo  name,  Ah-kiick-sha.  Common  at  Etah  in  spring 
and  fall  migration.  Not  seen  in  July  and  August.  Un- 
doubtedly many  remain  in  far  North  throughout  the  year. 
Seen  on  March  19,  1914,  when  we  were  crossing  the  Beit- 
stadt  Glacier  of  Ellesmere  Land  at  a  height  of  4,700  feet 
with  a  temperature  of  — ^50°  F.  Also  seen  on  March  30, 
1914,  in  Eureka  Sound  at  79°  15'  N.  Recorded  by  me  at 
Ward  Hunt  Island  on  most  northern  coast  of  Grant  Land, 
83°  7'  N.,  on  March  21,  1909.  Shot  at  Etah  on  February 
13,  1916,  five  days  before  the  retiu-n  of  the  sun.  These 
birds  pick  through  the  crust  of  snow  with  their  bill,  then 
clear  away  loose  snow  with  their  feet,  in  order  to  uncover 
willow  buds.  The  breeding-note  in  April  resembles  very 
much  the  sound  of  a  policeman's  rattle.  Nesting  date 
early  in  June. 

29.  Falco  islandus.  White  gyrfalcon.  Speckled  partridge- 
hawk.  Eskimo  name,  Ka-sh^-we-a-how.  Arrives  at  Etah 
about  May  1st.  Found  nesting  on  vertical  cliffs  from  a 
height  of  30  to  1,000  feet.  As  far  north  as  Cape  Sheridan, 
82°  30'.  Nesting  dates,  at  Force  Bay,  May  27,  1915; 
May  31, 1917;  Etah,  June  7, 1917.  Eggs,  4.  Young  taken 
from  nest  at  Etah  on  August  16,  1908,  August,  1915. 
Young  seen  flying  September  1,  1916.  Feeds  upon  eider 
duck,  Mandt's  guillemot,  ptarmigan,  Arctic  hare,  and 
dovekies.  The  last  are  carefully  picked,  decapitated, 
wings  bitten  off,  and  body  swallowed.  When  the  meat 
is  digested  the  bones  are  disgorged. 

30.  Nyctea  nyctea.  Snowy  owl.  Eskimo  name,  Ook-pik. 
Rarely  seen  at  Etah.     Common  at  Cape  Sheridan  on 


410       FOUR  YEARS  IN  THE  WHITE  NORTH 

northern  shore  of  Grant  Land  during  the  light  period. 
Nest  found  July  5th,  two  miles  from  coast  on  the  summit 
of  a  projecting  mass  of  rock  above  a  river-bed,  contained 
four  young,  surprisingly  unequal  in  size,  and  two  eggs. 
Remains  in  the  far  North  throughout  the  year.  Seen  at 
Floeberg  Beach  by  Nares  Expedition  on  March  29,  1876. 
Food  consists  of  lemming,  ptarmigan,  and  Arctic  hare. 
Necessarily  diurnal  in  habits  during  the  long  Hght  period, 
but  more  active  as  the  sun  swings  low  in  the  north.  Bright 
sunshine  affects  its  sight  but  little,  if  any,  as  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  Arctic  owl  is  extremely  wary  and  difficult  to 
approach  within  gun-shot. 

During  the  dark  period  its  sole  food  must  be  the  Arctic 
hare,  which  are  very  numerous  in  North  Greenland, 
Ellesmere  Land,  and  all  lands  west. 

An  extract  from  my  field  journal: 

November  17, 1915. — When  driving  around  Cape  Kendrick  to- 
night in  a  regular  blizzard — drifting  snow,  heavy  wind,  tempera- 
ture -30°  F. — my  dogs  suddenly  leaped  ahead,  dashed  right,  then 
left,  stopped,  and  began  to  fight.  To  my  astonishment,  they 
were  tearing  a  hare  to  pieces.  As  it  is  well  known  that  no  dog 
could  p)ossibly  capture  an  Arctic  hare,  I  was  puzzled  for  a  mo- 
ment. It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Eskimos  who  were  with  me  that 
an  owl  had  captured  the  hare  and  was  eating  it  upon  the  ice  as 
we  arrived.  The  mad  dash  of  my  dogs  from  place  to  place  was 
it  pursuit  of  the  owl  and  his  six  to  eight  poimd  burden. 

31.  Corvus  corax  principalis.  Northern  raven.  Eskimo  name, 
Tood-a-waq.  During  the  early  spring  and  summer  months 
the  raven  is  found  as  far  north  as  land  extends  (Lat.  83° 
40').  Winter  resident  at  Etah.  Majority  migrate  s»uth 
about  September  15th.  Nests  about  April  6th  on  cliffs. 
Nest  often  inaccessible.  Young  found  in  nests  near  Etah 
June  3d  and  June  15th;  seen  flying  August  25th.  Food 
during  winter  months  consists  of  the  excrement  of  dogs, 
foxes,  wolves,  and  Arctic  hare.  From  May  15th  to  Sep- 
tember 1st  the  raven  feeds  largely  upon  dovekies,  which 


APPENDIX  VI  411 

are  singled  out  from  the  flock,  pursued,  and  captured  in 
the  air,  or  driven  exhausted  to  the  ground  and  to  the  sur- 
face of  the  fiord  ice.  The  nests  of  the  eider  duck  also  suf- 
fer from  the  depredations  of  the  raven,  which  jabs  its  lower 
bill  through  an  egg  and  carries  it  to  its  nestlings  on  the 
chff.  Considered  good  eating  by  the  Smith  Sound 
Eskimo. 

32.  Acanthis  hornemanni  hornemanni.  Greenland  redpoll. 
Rare  at  Etah.  Two  flocks  of  about  ten  each  seen  at  Sun- 
rise Point  on  August  1st,  1916.  Specimen  obtained  Sep- 
tember 5th. 

33.  Plectrophenax  nivalis  nivalis.  Snow-bunting.  Eskimo 
name,  Kop-a-noo.  Found  nesting  on  northern  shores  of 
Greenland  and  Grant  Land.  Nest  of  grass,  moss,  and 
feathers  under  and  in  crevices  of  ground  rocks.  Eggs, 
4-7.  Date,  June  19th.  This  bird  arrived  at  Etah  about 
April  15th.  Remained  until  November  1st.  One  heard 
by  me  at  Nerky  on  November  12th.  The  Eskimos  declare 
that  a  few  remain  all  winter.  Very  musical  during  the 
breeding-season. 

34.  Saxicola  oenanthe  leucorkoa.  Greenland  wheatear.  Mi- 
grates in  spring  to  the  edge  of  the  Polar  Sea.  Arrives 
at  Etah  about  May  20th.  Nest  in  construction  and  loca- 
tion similar  to  that  of  snow-bunting.  Date,  June  15th. 
Eggs,  5.  Young  found  in  nest  July  3d,  1916.  Young  seen 
flying  on  August  5th,  6th,  7th. 

35.  Haliaeetus  albiciUa.  Gray  sea-eagle.  I  record  this  bird 
among  the  Ust  because  it  nests  at  Cape  Sedon  in  Melville 
Bay,  the  most  southern  settlement  of  the  Smith  Sound 
Eskimos. 

27 


APPENDIX  Vn 

STATEMENTS  CONCERNING  THE   POSSIBLE  EXISTENCE  OP  LAND 
IN  THE   POLAR   SEA 

Captain  Richardson,  in  his  work.  The  Polar  Regions, 
says: 

The  Eskimos  of  Point  Barrow  have  a  tradition,  reported  by  Mr. 
Simpson,  surgeon  of  the  Plover  (in  1832),  of  some  of  their  tribe  having 
been  carried  to  the  north  on  ice  broken  up  in  a  southeriy  gale,  and 
arriving,  after  many  nights,  at  a  hilly  country  inhabited  by  people 
hke  themselves,  speaking  the  Eskimo  language,  and  by  whom  they 
were  well  received.  After  a  long  stay,  one  spring  in  which  the  ice 
remained  without  movement  they  returned  without  mishap  to  their 
town  country  and  reported  their  adventures.  An  obscure  indication 
of  land  to  the  north  was  actually  perceived  from  the  masthead  of 
the  Plover  when  oflf  Point  Barrow. 

In  1850,  Captain  McClure,  when  off  the  northern  coast 
of  Alaska,  wrote  in  his  journal  that,  judging  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  ice  and  a  "light  shady  tint"  in  the  sky,  there 
must  be  land  to  the  north  of  him. 

Marcus  Taker,  writing  in  the  National  Geographic  Maga- 
zine, 189 Jf,  under  the  title  of  "An  Undiscovered  Island  off  Jthe 
Northern  Coast  of  Alaska,"  says: 

It  is  often  told  that  natives  wintering  between  Harrison  and 
Camden  Bays  have  seen  land  to  the  north  in  the  bright,  clear  days 
of  spring.  In  the  winter  of  1886-87  Uxharen,  an  enterprising  Eski- 
mo of  Ootkearie,  was  very  anxious  for  me  to  get  some  captain  to 
take  him  the  following  summer,  with  his  family,  canoe,  and  outfit, 


APPENDIX  VII  413 

to  the  northeast  as  far  as  the  ship  went,  and  then  he  would  try  to 
find  this  mysterious  land  of  which  he  had  heard  so  much;  but  no 
one  cared  to  bother  with  this  venturesome  Eskimo  explorer. 

The  only  report  of  land  having  been  seen  in  this  vicinity 
by  civilized  men  was  made  by  Capt.  John  Keenan,  of  Troy, 
New  York,  in  the  seventies,  at  that  time  in  command  of  the 
whaling-bark  Stamhoul,  of  New  Bedford.  Captain  Keenan 
said  that  after  taking  several  whales  the  weather  became 
thick,  and  he  stood  to  the  north  under  easy  sail  and  was  busily 
engaged  in  trying  out  and  stowing  down  the  oil  taken.  When 
the  fog  cleared  ofiF,  land  was  distinctly  seen  to  the  north  by 
him  and  all  the  men  of  his  crew,  but  as  he  was  not  on  a  voyage 
of  discovery,  and  there  were  no  whales  in  sight,  he  was  ob- 
liged to  give  the  order  to  keep  away  to  the  south  in  search 
of  them. 

In  June,  1904,  Dr.  R.  A.  Harris,  of  the  United  States,  Coast 
and  Geodetic  Survey,  published  in  the  National  Geographic 
Magazine  his  reasons  for  believing  that  there  must  be  a  large 
body  of  undiscovered  land  or  shallow  water  in  the  polar 
regions.  He  based  his  theory  upon  the  report  that  Siberian 
driftwood  had  been  picked  up  in  South  Greenland,  upon  the 
observations  of  drifting  polar  ice,  upon  the  drift  of  the  ship 
Jeannette,  and  upon  numerous  tidal  observations  made  along 
the  northern  coast  of  Alaska  and  eastward. 


INDEX 

A  American   Museum   of    Natiu*al 
History,  193. 

"Achees,'*  47  American  Museum  Glacier,  299, 
Advance,  25,  111,  114,  165,  176  302. 

Advance  Bay,  160.  Amund  Ringnes,  82. 

Ah-nah-doo,  124.  Amund  Ringnes  Island,  240,  241, 
Ahng-ma-lock-to,  127.  243,  252. 

Ahng-o-do-blah-o,  127,  137.  Amundsen,  R.,  47. 

Ah-now-ka,    144,    153,   155,   156,  Andromeda,  Bell-flowered,  399. 

157,  160,  175,  211,  274,  275.  Angekok    (medicine  -  man),     33, 
Ah-pellah,  21,  50.  217. 

Ah-took-sung-wa,  40.  Anoritok,  155,  161,  172,  369. 

Ah-we-gee-a,   149.  Anthropometric      measurements, 
Aka-ting-wa,  191  35. 

Ak-bat,  126,  315.  Arbuthnot,  Charles  W.,  291. 

Ak-kom-mo-ding-wa,  40, 101, 141,  Arctic,  26. 

218, 237,  240.  Arctic    hares,    65,    66,    69,    118. 
Akpan,  393,  394.  237. 

Ak-pood-a-shah-o,  100,  111,  147,  Arctic  night,  33,  34. 

153,   160,   171,   173,   174,   175,  Arkilo,  20,  60,  62,  74,  156,  157, 

210,  232,  240,  283,  313.  158,   160,   162,   191.  242.  247, 

Alert,  H.M.S.,  27,  289,  298.  250,  283,  313,  336. 

Alexander,  Cape,  23,  40, 121, 144,  Army  Range  No.  1,  362. 

185,  186,  189,  199.  Arnica,  264,  399. 

Alexandra  Fiord,  98.  Arthritis  deformans,  123. 

Alida  Lake,  24,  169,  215,  271.  Arthur,  Mt.,  357,  358 

Allen,  Camp,  345.  Astronomy,  Practical,  35. 

Allen,  Jerome  Lee,  5,  S3, 109, 142,  Auks,  Little  {AUe  aUe),  116,  169, 

156.  263,  315,  404. 

Al-ning-wa,  191.  Axel  Heiberg  Island,  321,  322. 

American  Arctic  Explorer,  First,  Axel  Heiberg  Land,  vi,  68,  88, 

112.  89,  216,  238,  239. 


416 


INDEX 


B 

Bache  Peninsula,  229,  341. 
Baffin,  WiUiam,  314,  315. 
Baird,  Camp,  365. 
Baird  Inlet,  291. 
Bancroft  Bay,  156,  157. 
Barographs  recorded,  35. 
Barometic  readings,  35. 
Bartlett,  Camp,  361. 
Bartlett,  Capt.  Robert,  306,  313, 

314,  315,  319,  387. 
Bathurst  Island,  223. 
Bay  Fiord,  59,  61,  322. 
Bayley,  Dr.  W.  S.,  353. 
Bayley,  Mt.,  353. 
Beach  robia,  408. 
Bear,  293. 
Bear,  Polar,  19,  39, 55,  62,  65, 107, 

153,    155,   156,   158,    159,   160, 

234,  235,   236,   238,  241,  242, 

248,  249,  250,  261,  262,  267, 

268,  299,  300. 
Bearded  seal  {Erignaihus   barba- 

tus),  48, 145,  155, 157, 160,  161. 
Bearskin  pants,  47. 
Beaumont,  298. 
Bedford  Pim  Island,  52,  293. 
Beebe  cache,  170. 
Beitstadt  Glacier,  56. 
Belcher,  Sir  Edward,  252. 
Belle  Isle,  Straits  of,  7. 
Beothic,  29. 
Bemier,  Captain,  277. 
Biederbick,  Mt.,  358. 
Birch,  Dwarf,  398. 
Birds,    103-107,    160,    162,    167, 

169,  263,  403-411. 
Birdskin  shirts,  107. 
Birthdays  celebrated,  34. 
Biscuit,  46. 

Bjornesundet,  237,  256. 
Blaamandeu,  95. 


Bluebell,  Arctic,  397,  399. 

Boger  Point,  300,  302. 

Bolton,  Mt.,  304. 

Bonsall  records,  157. 

Booth  Inlet,  114. 

Boots,  47,  48,  161,  249. 

Borup,  Camp,  361. 

Borup  Fjord,  351. 

Borup,  George,  iv,v,331,332,351. 

Borup  Lodge,  38,  42,  46, 110, 142, 

148,  156,  160. 
Bosun-bird,  404. 
Botany,  322. 
Bradley,  John  R.,  29. 
Brainard,  Sergt.  D.  L.,  354. 
Brevoort  Island,  292. 
British    North    Pole    Eicpedition 

(1875-76),  170,  179,  288,  298, 

322. 
Brother  John's  Glacier,  24,  188. 
Brunnich's  Murres   (JJria  hrnivia 

lomvia),  109,  126,  315,  403. 
Bryant,  H.  G.,  282,  303. 
Bryder,  Doctor,  378. 
Buchanan  Bay,  39,  286. 
Bull-bird,  404. 
Burbank,  Mr.,  313,  315. 
Burgomaster  Gull   {Lams  hyper- 

boreus),  169,  405. 
Butler  Island,  165. 
Buttercup,  264,  397. 


Cache  Cove,  170. 

Cadogan  Inlet,  297,  S04.  ♦ 

Cagni,  Captain,  48. 

Cairn  Point,  160,  164. 

Caplin  {Mallotus  vUlosus),  213. 

Caribou,  European  {Rangijer 
groenlandicus) ,  35,  68,  69,  74, 
109,  117,  118,  188,  216,  217; 
white  (Rangifer  pearyi),  216. 


INDEX 


417 


Caribou-skin  coat,  47. 

Cary  Islands,  314. 

Caterpillar,  257. 

Catspaw,  Woolly,  399. 

Cemetery  Ridge,  293. 

Census,  275. 

Chalon,  Cape,  117,  140  209. 

Chandler  Fjord,  361. 

Cherie  Island,  182. 

Christmas,  41,  211,  276,  375. 

Clams,  272,  277. 

Clarence    Head,    279,    282,    295, 

296,  302,  314,  321. 
Clay,  Camp,  292. 
Clements  Markham  Glacier,  122, 

206. 
Cliffs,  Stratified,  155. 
Clothing,  47,  48. 
Cluett,  George  B.,  193,  206. 
Coal,  170,  187,  239,  289,  307,  322, 

343. 
Colgate,  Cape,  80,  81,  88. 
Columbia,  Cape,  289. 
Combermere,  Cape,  302. 
Comer,  Capt.   George,  211,  219, 

268,  270,  271,  307. 
Conger,  Fort,  40,  161,  162,  360, 

363. 
Conger  Mountains,  358. 
Connell,  Mt.,  358. 
Consumption,  386,  387. 
Cook,  Dr.  Frederick  A.,  29,  71, 

231. 
Cranberry,  399. 
Cress,  399. 
Crocker  Land  Expedition,  iii,  v, 

vii,    1,    32,    72,    73,    120,   136, 

207,  321. 
Grossman,  Mr.,  319. 
Crystal  Palace  Glacier,  121,  148, 

207. 
Curlew-berry,  399. 
Cuttlefish,  272. 


Daisy,  264. 

Dandelion,  264,  397,  400. 

Danmark,  273,  274,  306,  371. 

Defosse,  Cape,  365. 

Depot  B  established,  80. 

Devil's  Thumb,  17. 

Diana,  1,  3,  4,  5,  8. 

Diebitsch  Glacier,  208. 

Direction  of  wind  recorded,  35. 

Discovery  Bay,  290. 

Discovery,  H.M.S.,  27,  289. 

Dominion  Government  Exp>edi- 
tion,  305. 

Dovekie  or  little  auk  (Alle  alle), 
104,  106,  107,  164,  400,  404. 

Down,  John,  406. 

Ducks,  brant  (Branta  bernicla 
glaucoga^tra) ,  105,  169,  265, 
266, 309,  407,  408;  eider  {Soma- 
teria  mollissima  borealis),  104, 
109,  153,  169,  198,  199,  364, 
407;  long-tailed  {Harelda  hye- 
rrudis),  169,  406. 

Dunsterville,  Cape,  290. 

Dynamite,  265. 

E 

Eagle,  Sea,  411. 

Ee-meen-ya,  280. 

Eggs,  105,  111,  153, 169, 170,  264. 

Eider  Duck  Islands,  105. 

Eider,  King,  407;  Northern,  407. 
265,  309,  322. 

Ekblaw,  Camp,  343. 

Ekblaw,  W.  Elmer,  geologist,  4, 
136,  143,  144,  145,  147,  148, 
156,  161,  219,  268,  270,  279, 
281,  316,  333,  371,  388,  397. 

Ek-kai-a-sha,  134. 

Electric-light  plants  installed, 
31,  36. 


418  INDEX 

Elison  Pass,  292,  295.  Fog  Inlet,  112. 

Ellef  Ringnes  Island,  244,  277.  Food,  46,  47. 

Ellesmere  Land,  56,  82,  96,  282,  Force  Bay,  154. 

295,  321.  Fosheim,  Camp,  347,  348,  349. 

Erik,  of  St.  John's,  13,  14,  170.  Fosheim  Peninsula,  66,  345. 

E-say-oo,  144,  149,  335,  370.  Foulke  Fiord,  23,  24,  188,  200, 
Eskimo,  ancestry,  125,  126;  birth       201,  282,  321. 

of  children,  112,  113;   dogs,  43,  Fox,  316,  318. 

44,  45,  55,  62,   79,   138,   143,  Fox,  35,  65,  238,  263. 

144,  147,   149,   158,   159,  230,  Foxskins,  331. 

239,308;  dictionary,  275;  dress.  Fox-traps,  Stone,  175. 

47;     girls,    123;     igloos,    123;  Fram,  28,  170,  286. 

language,  35,  126,  322;    mar-  Franklin,  Lady,  316. 

riage,    125,    274,    275;     tradi-  Franklin,  Sir  John,  252,  316,  318. 

tions,  126;  wives,  205;  woman  Frederick,  292. 

service,  32.  Fresh  meat,  31. 

Eskimos,  114.  Freuchen,   Peter,   116,   120,   123, 
Etah,  North  Greenland,  21,  22,       124,   126,   127,   128,   129,  137, 

23,  24,  32,  160,  212.  143,   149,   153,   193,   206,  211, 

Ethnology,  35,  322.  212,  268,  323,  325,  327. 

E-took-a-shoo,    19,    67,    74,    78,  Fulmar,  406. 

128,   137,   139,   144,   148,   149,  Fur-storehouse,  331. 

208,  242,  243,  250,  283,  290,  Fur,  Use  of,  31,  32. 

313,  335,  346,  370. 
Eureka  Sound,  66,  143,  161.  q 

Exercise,  Enforced,  34. 

Exmouth  Island,  254.  Gabrielsen,  Tobias,  375. 

Explorations,  321.  Gale  Point,  304. 

Gasolene,  50. 

p  Geology,  322. 

George  B.  Cluett,  261,  268. 

Faraday,   Cape,   282,   296,   300,  Georgetown  University,  272. 

303.  Glaciers,  299,  302. 

Farthest  North,  26,  27,  88,  92.  Glaucous  Gull  (Lanis  hyperborem). 
Feet,  Frost-bitten,  58,  279,  289,       103,   160,   164,   263,  303,  304, 

316,  323,  339,  374.  309,  404. 

Fern  Rock,  165.  Godhavn,  279, 316,  387.  ♦ 

Ferns,  397,  401.  Godhavn  natives,  318. 

Finlay  Land,  223.  Goose,  Sea,  408. 

Fire,  Preventive  against,  36.  Grant  Land,  82,  143,  298,  349. 

Flagler  Bay,  21.  Grasses,  400,  401. 

Flagler  Pass,  56.  Grass,  gathering,  195. 

Flowers,  113,  264.  Greely  Expedition,  161. 


INDEX 


419 


Greely  Fiord,  161,  281,  321,  354. 

Greely,  Lieutenant,  27,  170,  287, 
292,  293. 

Greely,  Maj.  A.  W.,  358. 

Greely,  starvation  camp,  258. 

Green,  Ensign  FitzHugh,  physi- 
cist, 5,  50,  92,  142,  156,  162, 
204,  205,  206,  207. 

Greenland  Ice-cap,  155. 

Greenland,  Inspectorate  of,  316. 

Grinnell,  Second,  Expedition,  322. 

Guillemot,  Black  (Cepphus  mand- 
ti),  104,  109,  169,  309,  403. 

Gulls,  160,  164,  169,  265,  309, 
404,  406. 

Gyrfalcon,  White  (Falco  islandus), 
103,  104,  162,  169,  256,  409. 

H 

Hakluyt  Isle,  315. 

Hall,  Capt.  Charles  Francis,  26, 

165,  279. 
Hand,  James  I.,  289,  362,  363. 
Hans,  Eskimo,  124. 
Hans  Island,  365. 
Hanson,  Captain,  306. 
Hare,  Arctic,  35,  191. 
Harlow,  Lieutenant,  293. 
Harris,  Dr.  R.  A.,  75,  412. 
Hartstene,  Lieut.  H.  J.,  26. 
Hassel,  Isachsen  and,  223. 
Hatherton,  Cape,  100,  117,  338. 
Hawk,  Jiddy,  404. 
Hayes  Camp,  340. 
Hayes,  Dr.  Isaac  Isreal,  24,  26, 

124,  215,  228,  283. 
Hayes  Sound,  98. 
Heather,  397. 
Hendrickson  Sound,  241. 
Henson,  Cape,  115. 
Herbert  Island,  19. 
Herring  Gull,  406. 


Herschel,    Cape,  287,    292,    295, 

305. 
Holstenborg,  279. 
Homer  Land,  Louise,  353. 
Homer,  Louise,  353. 
Hovey,  Dr.  E.  O.,  192,  193,  204, 

206,  211,   212,  217,  219,  261, 

268,  270,  279,  280. 
Hovey,  Mt.,  347. 
Hozen  Lake,  143,  161,  281,  354, 

358,  359. 
Hubbard,  Cape  Thomas,  72. 
Humboldt  Glacier,  111,  153,  154, 

159. 
Himt,  Harrison  J.,  M.D.,  4,  33, 

39,    143,    144,    147,    153,    160, 

206,  213,   219,  261,  268,  270, 

331,  379,  380. 
Hvitberget  (White  Mountain),  71, 

72,  95. 


Icebergs,  7,  15. 

Ice-bird,  404. 

Ice-boat,  101. 

Ice-foot,   37,  51,   154,   208,  209, 

210,  211,  309. 
Ice,  Sea,  measurement,  35. 
Igloo,  50,  69,  70,  155,  161,  175, 

191. 
Ig-loo-da-hourny,  20,  192. 
Igloosuah,  339. 
Ik-qua,  176. 

In-ah-loo,  196,  218,  277,  278. 
Independence  Bay,  204. 
Indians,  North  American,  126. 
Influenza,  49,  53,  143. 
Inglefield,  Cape,  155. 
Inglefield,  Capt.  E.  A.,  24,  52. 
Inglefield,  Sir  Edward,  282. 
In-you-gee-to,  308. 
I-o-pung-wa,  144,  156. 
Ip-swee-shoo,  204. 


420 


INDEX 


Isabella,  24,  282. 

IsabeUa,  Cape,  62,  287,  288,  290, 

295,  296,  304,  322. 
Isachsen  and  Hassel,  223. 
Isachsen,  Camp,  345. 
Islands,  Discovery  of  new,  321. 
Ittibloo,  122,  123. 
Ivory  Gull,  404. 
Ivory,  Walrus,  181. 


Jacob-shoo-na,  101. 

Jaeger,  Long-tail,  111,  404. 

James,  Cape,  353. 

James,  "Prexy"  Edmund  James, 

353. 
Jesup,  Cape  Morris,  264. 
Jones  Sound,  282. 
Jot,  5,  33,  39,  101,  213,  269,  270 

308,  321. 
Juliana,  Fort,  99. 


Kab-loo-na-ding-me,     277,     278, 

283. 
Kah-gun,  221. 
Kah-na,  122,  204. 
Kai-o-ta,  18,  62,  156. 
Ka-ko-tchee-a,  19,  210. 
Ka-mowitz,  50,  51,  153,  283. 
Kane  Basin,  295. 
Kane,  Dr.  Elisha  Kent,  25,  155, 

156,  157,  159,  170,  197,  318. 
Kane  Expedition,  24,  111,   112, 

160,  164,  165,  166,  322. 
Kane  Masonic  Lodge,  N.  Y.  City, 

165,  166. 
Kangerd-look-suah,  204. 
Karluk,  loss,  117. 
Ka-sah-do,  127. 
Ka-shung-wa,  141, 


Kayak,  Eskimo,  34,  183. 

Keatek,  325. 

Kee-et-tee,  146. 

Keenan,  Capt.  John,  413. 

Kehoe,  Captain,  19,  22. 

Keltic  Gulf,  298. 

Kendrick,  Cape,  175,  202,  208. 

Kennedy  Channel,  161,  162,  295. 

Kent,  Cape,  158. 

Kikertak  (Salvo  Island),  127. 

King  Christian   Island,  32,   143, 

223,  245,  246,  250. 
Kintrup- Jensen,  Hans,  381. 
Kislingbury,  Lieut.  Harry,  294, 
Kitchener,  Lord,  276. 
Kittiwake,  405. 
Koch,  geologist,  295. 
Knot  (Tringa  canutus),  264,  265, 

322,  408. 
Knowlton,  Dr.  G.  S.,  313. 
Kood-look-to,  40,  42,  389. 
Koo-la-ting-wa,  126, 213, 237, 280. 
Kop-a-noo,  135. 
Kud-la,  143. 


Labrador,  319. 

Lady  Franklin  Bay  Expedition, 

27,  170. 
Lady  Franklin  Sound,  289. 
Land,  new.  Existence  of,  321. 
Language,  Eskimo,  35,  322. 
Law,  A.  P.,  305. 
Leiper,  Cape,  155. 
Lemming,  239. 
Lichens,  397. 

Lievely,  317.  -•. 

Life  Boat  Cove,  153,  165. 
Lime-juice,   179. 
Lindow,  Inspector,  316,  317,  318, 

387. 
Littleton    Island,    25,    105,    115, 

153,  226,  284,  290,  307, 


INDEX 


421 


Lockwood,  Lieut.  J.  B.,  170,  354, 

358. 
Look,  M.  J.,  41,  136,  206. 
Loon,  493. 

Ludvig,  Cape,  240,  250. 
Lynn,  292. 

M 

MacMillan,  Donald  B.,  323,  333, 

334,  336,  339. 
McClintock,  318, 
McClure,  Captain,  412. 
McCormick  Bay,  321. 
McGary's  Rock,  105,  107. 
McLeod,  Capt.  Angus,  252 
McLeod  Head,  252. 
Magnetism,  35. 
Makkovik  Station,  319. 
Mallemuke,  406. 
Mandt's      Guillemot      (Cepphus 

mandti),  104. 
Markham,  Commander,  288. 
Markham,  Sir  Clements,  282. 
Marriage,  Eskimo,  274,  275. 
Marshall  Bay,  160,  161. 
Marvin,  Camp,  361. 
Mee-tak,  134. 

Melville  Bay,  15,  16,  17,  129. 
Melville,  Cape,  17. 
Meteorite,  40,  42,  338,  389,  394, 

398. 
Meteorological  Observations,  31, 

35,  36,  109,  110,  214. 
Meteorology,  35,  322. 
Mirage,  80,  81,  88. 
MoUimoke,  406. 
Molly,  406. 

Morris  Jesup,  Cape,  264,  295. 
Morse,  181. 

Motion-picture  film,  322. 
Mumps,  49,  53. 
Murchison  Sound,  19,  20. 


Murres  {Uria  lomvia  lomna),  126. 
Muscovy  Company,  182. 
Mushrooms,  397. 
Musk-oxen,   35,   60,   61,   64,  65, 

67,  68,  69,  107,  156,  160,  234, 

236,  346. 
My-ah,  127. 

N 

Na-hate-e-lah-o,  206,  212. 

Nale-gark-suah,  221. 

Nansen,  Fridtjof,  287. 

Nares,  Capt.  Sir  George,  27,  170, 

288,  289,  290,  291,  322. 
Narwhale,  35,  128,  171,  172,  175. 
Neilsen,  Herr,  386. 
Neptune,  27,  312,  314,  315,  316, 

319,  387. 
Nerkre,  324,  390. 
Nerky,  21,  40,  114,  149,  187,  188, 

191. 
Nicholas  11  Land,  discovery,  117. 
Night,  Arctic,  33,  34,  35,   118, 

119,  269. 
Noddy,  406. 
Noo-ka-ping-wa,  21,  39,  45,  62, 

74,    156,    214,    219,    241,    242, 

248,  249,  250,  256,  336. 
North   Cornwall,  240,  250,   252, 

321. 
North  Pole  reached,  29. 
North  Star  Bay,  114,  115,  204, 

261,  316,  323. 
Northumberland  Island,  139, 140, 

315. 
Nose-bleed,  378. 
Notes  in  bottles,  162,  163. 

O 

Observatory  Island,  165. 
Ohlsen,  Cape,  153. 


422 


INDEX 


Ohlsen,  Governor,  316, 317. 
Oil,  Shark-liver,  385. 
Oil,  Whale,  191. 
Okpuddyshao,  336. 
Old  Injun,  406. 
Old  Squaw,  406. 
Olsen,  Cape,  337. 
Olsen,  Hendrik,  295,  392. 
Oo-bloo-ya  (Star),  21,  100,  111, 

127,  128,  162,  191,  219,  336. 
Oo-loo-set,  315. 
Oo-ming-man,  282. 
Oo-quee-a,  141. 
Oo-tah,  204,  205,  377. 
Ornithology,  36,  322,  403^11. 
Osborn,  Henry  Fairfield,  353. 
Osborn  Mountains,  353. 
Osbom,  Sherard,  223. 
Osier,  Doctor,  123. 
Owl,  35,  409. 


Paget  Glacier,  298. 
Paget  Point,  297,  299,  304- 
Pandora,  27,  175. 
Pandora  Harbor,  175. 
Panikpa,  19,  21,  40,  141,  237. 
Pap>ers  published,  34. 
Parasitic  jaeger,  404. 
Parker  Snow  Bay,  204,  206,  212, 

373. 
"Park-e-to,"  125. 
Parry,  Cape,  19,  114,  122,  138, 

315. 
Parry  Islands,  vi,  281. 
Partridge-hawk,  409. 
Partridge,  Ice,  404. 
Paul,    Charles    W.,    289,    362, 

363. 
Pauletta,  382,  383. 
Payer  Harbor,  51,  55,  99. 
Peabody  Bay,  160,  161. 


Peary  Channel,   143,   281,    282, 

291,  295. 
Peary,  Rear-Admiral,  iii,  28,  48, 

52,  72,  74,  75,  80,  81,  87,  99, 123, 

197,  204,  306,  318,  322. 
Peary  ReHef  Expedition  (1892), 

282. 
Pee-a-wah-to,  51,  60,  63,  74,  78, 

79,  91,  92. 
Pee-s6e-a,  241,  244. 
Pemmican,  46,  47. 
Peteravik,    143,    144,    145,    148, 

149,  177. 
Peterman's  Fiord,  289. 
Peterson,  Cape,  290. 
Peterson,  Neils  C,  289. 
Phalarope,  Red  {Phalarojms  ftdi- 

carius),  264,  408. 
Phoca  foelida,  151. 
Photography,   34,   35,   307,   308, 

309,  322. 
"Piblock-to,"  form  of  rabies,  147, 

230,  231,  233. 
Pickles,  Captain,  193,  212,  261. 
Pictures,  Midnight-sun,  299. 
Plants,  Vascular,  398. 
Plover,       Ring  -  neck    {/Egialiies 

hiaticula),  264,  408. 
Polaris  Beach,  165. 
Polaris  Expedition  (1872),  16,  26, 

278,  279. 
Polar  Sea,  routes  to  unexplored 

sector,  vi. 
Poo-ad-loo-na,  101. 
"Pootenook,"  373,  374. 
Poppy,  Arctic,  264,  397,  400:* 
Porsild,  Mr.,  316,  317,  387. 
Porter,  George,  289. 
Power-boat,  114,  115,  116,  117. 
Pressure  ridges,  76. 
Proteus,  27. 
Proven,  379,  386,  387. 
Provision  Point,  23. 


INDEX 


423 


Ptarmigan,  Reinhardt's,  104,  118,   Roosevelt,  S.S.,  iii,  iv,  29,  40,  44. 


237,  238,  256,  326,  409. 
Puffin    (Fratercula    ardica    nau- 

manni),  315,  403. 
Pym  Island,  339. 

Q 

Querini,  Lieutenant,  48. 


R 

Rabies,  341 

Race  Horse,  crushed  by  ice,  16. 
Raven,  35,  169,  410. 
Ravenscraig,  279. 
Record-breaking  latitudes,  26,  27. 
Records,  250,  254,  256,  277,  288, 

289,  290,  293,  303,  305,  322, 

348,  356,  363. 
Red  Cliff  House,  204. 
Redpoll,  Greenland,  411. 
Refuge  Harbor,  112. 
Reindeer,  217. 
Relief-ship,   178,   180,    186,   192, 

193,  206,   261,  267,   268,  269, 

270,  271,  273,   277,   278,  279, 

287,  306,  312,  318,  329,  331. 
Remington,  Camp,  357. 
Rensselaer  Harbor,  114,  155,  156, 

164,  165,  321. 
Retreat  Harbor,  176. 
Rhododendron,  397. 
Rice,  287,  292. 
Rice  Strait,  52,  286. 
Richardson,  Captain,  412. 
Robertson,  Cape,  219. 
Robeson  Channel,  295. 
Robin  snipe,  408. 
Rockweed  as  food,  221. 
Rockweed-bird,  408. 
Eloosevelt,     Colonel,     in     South 

America,  117. 


Rossbach,   Sechmann,   325,   327, 

328. 
Rossen,  Pastor,  378. 
Rotch,  404. 
Rotchie,  404. 
Rotge,  404. 

Ruggles  River,  360,  361. 
Rutherford,  Camp,  99. 
Rutherford,  Cape,  39,  52. 


Sabine,  Cape,  51,  52,  279,  282, 
284,  287,  292,  295,  321,  339. 

Sabin's  Gull,  406. 

Salmon,  Lake  Hazen,  360. 

Salmon  trout,  113,  169. 

Salt-horse,  179. 

Salvo  Island,  374. 

Sandpiper  {Pisobia  hairdx),  264, 
408. 

Sargent  chart,  35. 

Saumarez,  Cape,  219. 

Saunders  Island,  167,  302. 

Savikseevik,  394. 

Saxifrage,  264,  399,  400. 

Schei,  Camp,  345. 

Schei's  Island,  66,  70,  94. 

Schley,  Admiral,  28;  Captain, 
293. 

Schools,  daily  lessons,  34. 

Scott,  Cape,  155. 

Scurvy,  39,  179,  180,  289,  362. 

Seabury  cache,  170. 

Sea-dove,  404. 

Sea-horse,  181,  182,  183. 

Sea  ice,  cracking,  48,  49;  meas- 
urement, 35. 

Sea  King,  404. 

Seal,  35,  48,  109,  126,  145,  151, 
155,  157,  160,  161,  192,  230, 
258. 


424  INDEX 

Seal-hunting  in  nets,  384.  South  Upernavik,  379,  380,  381, 

Sea-pigeon,  104,  170,  403.  386. 

Seddon,  Cape,  17,  129,  378.  Southwest,  Cape,  ^55,  256. 

Seismograph,  installation,  272  Sprigg,  Judge,  19. 

Seismology,  35.  Stalknecht  Island,  293. 

Shackleton,  Sir  Ernest,  plans,  117.  Starr  Island,  110. 

Shark  fishery,  385,  386.  Stars,  Revolving,  34. 

Shinleaf,  399.  Starvation   Camp,  258,  293. 

Shortest  day,  41.  SteMnsson,  VUhjdlmiu",  277. 

Shrubs,  398,  399.  Stephenson,  Captain,  290. 

Sickness,  annual,  150.  Stockings,  47. 

Sipsoo,  141,  308.  Sulwuddy,  40,  116,  153,  176,  177, 

Skins,  exported  annually,  217.  209. 

Skraelingodden,  66.  Summer,  113,  114,  116. 

Skua  Gull,  404.  Sun,  33,  34,  113,  114,  118,  144, 

Sledges,  34,  43,  44,  45,  46,  281  169,  269,  282,  345. 

Sleeping-bag,   48,    71,    232,   239,  Sunflower,   399. 

285,  338.  Sunrise  Point,  51,  105,  149,  162, 
Small,  Camp,  340,  341.  169,   173. 

Small,  Jonathan  Cook,  mechanic.  Surveys,  321. 

5,  33,  39,  101,  213,  269,  270,  Sutherland  Islands,  105,  265. 

308,  321.  Svendson  Cross,  99. 

Smith  Sound,  21,  23,  27,  38,  161,  Svendson,  Doctor,  286. 

228,  282.  Sverdrup,  Camp,  341. 

Smith  Sound  native,  35,  161,  172,  Sverdrup  Expedition,  223,  321. 

275.  Sverdrup,  Otto,  28,  56,  66,  68,  71, 
Snipe,  Rock,  408;    Robin,  408.  88,  99,  231,  286. 

Snow-beater,  71,  232.  Sverdrup  Pass,  342. 

Snowbirds,  264.  Swallow,  Sea,  406. 

Snow-bUndness     256,    326,    327,  Sydney,  Cape  Breton,  5    280. 

356.  Sydney  Harbor,  319. 

Snow-bunting  {Pladrophenox  ni-  Sylvia  Headland,  165, 167. 

valis  nivalis),  160, 169,  347, 411. 
Snow-goose,  Greater,  407.  rn 

Snow  house,  50. 

Snow  igloos,  141.  Table  Island,  254.  * 

Snow-shoes,  294,  298.  Tablet,  Memorial,  362. 

Sonntag,  August,  24.  Tah-ta-ra,  123. 

Sonntag,  Camp,  340.  Taker,  Marcus,  412. 

Sonntag,  death,  124.  Talbot  Inlet,  300,  303. 

Sonntag  Mountain,  202.  Tanquary  Fjord,  353. 

Soundings,  76,  77,  201,  271.  Tanquary,  Maurice  Cole,  zoolo- 
Southern  Cross,  lost,  6.  gist,  4,  50,  124,  127,  135,  137, 


INDEX 


425 


143,  147,  149,  156,  161,  167, 

187,  323,  327,  353. 
Tasiuask,  378. 

Tau-ching-wa,  20,  50,  57,  280. 
Taunt,  Lieutenant,  293. 
Tea,  46. 

Teal,  Green-winged,  406. 
Teaser,  404. 
Teddy. ling -wa,    20,    150,    151, 

221. 
Telephone,  31. 
Temperature  records,  35. 
Tennyson  Monument,  155. 
Tern,  Arctic,  265,  406. 
Thanksgiving   Day    (1913),   136; 

(1915),  207;    (1916),  273. 
Theaters  opened,  34. 
Thermographs  recorded,  35. 
Thermometer  Hill,  144,  271. 
Thermometric  readings,  35. 
Thetis,  293. 
"Thewhagon,"  47. 
Tidal  observations,  35,  322. 
Timothy,  Arctic,  400. 
Toes,  Frosted,  187. 
Toi-tee-a,  39. 
Took-too-lik-suah,  130,  133,  377, 

378. 
"Tomgak,   OM,"   76,   171,    189, 

225,  240. 
Tracheotomy,  97. 
Trees,  398,  399. 
Tung-we,  150,  151,  152,  221. 
Tupilcs  (sealskin  tents),  164,  172, 

325. 
Tumavik,  319. 
Turnstone,  408. 

U 

Ulvefjorden,  237. 
Umanak,  19,  115,  116,  123,  184, 
192,  193,  204,  211,  212,  213. 


United  States,  26. 

Upemavik,    120,    147,    185,   378, 

379,  386;  South,  379,  380,  381, 

386. 

V 

Vaudeville  show,  119. 
Veery  River,  358,  359. 
Vegetation,  397-402. 
Vent,  Cape,  369. 
Victoria  Head,  228. 
Victrola  Company,  41. 
Vinterberg,  Governor,  378. 
Vitamines,  179. 

W 

Walker,  Cape,  17. 

Wallace,  Mene,  51,  143,  150,  152, 

156,  219. 
Walrus,  19,  20,  35,  55,  107,  108, 

144,   145,   146,   151,   152,   161, 

173,   174,   181,   182,   183,   184, 

189,  190. 
War,  World,  276. 
Watches,  Day  and  night,  36. 
Water,  Open,  76. 
We-we,  45,  213,  214. 
Weyprecht  Islands,  229. 
Whale-bird,  408. 
Whale  Fish  Island,  319. 
Whale  Island,  325. 
Whale  Sound,  19. 
Whale,  White,  35,  176,  190,  191, 

277. 
Wheat-ear  {Saxicola  cenanthe  leu- 

corkoa),  169,  411. 
Whitney,  251. 
Willow,  Arctic,  389. 
Wind,  force,  35. 
Wireless,  36,  109,  162. 
Wolf,  White,  35,  62,  63,  65,  68,  69, 

90,  91,  95,  97,  243,  272. 
Wolstenholme  Sound,  326. 


426  INDEX 

Wulff,  Doctor,  botanist,  295,  S72.   Young,  Sir  Allen,  27,  170,  291, 
Wyville  Thompson  Glacier,  296.         322. 


York,  Cape,  17,  127,  129,  315,  Zoological  specimens,  35. 
316,  373.  Zoology,  35. 


THE  END 


/^a^^^ 


'antral  university  LIB' 

niversity  of  California,  S? 

DATE  DU 


4  1985 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


A     000  674  293     6 


